Chaucer’s Craft in Telling Philosophical Lessons in “The Manciple’s Tale”

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云南大W滇池学院外国语学院

【Abstract】“The Manciple’s Tale” is a beast fable. chaucer is a genius both in designing creative plots and teaching philosophical lessons in this beast fable. Chaucer arranges the manciple to tell the story and the Manciple lets the animals tell the truth. Chaucer combines two philosophical lessons and his creative plot together perfectly.

【Key Words】The Manciple’s tale；two philosophical lessons； creative plot

“The Manciple’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales is told by a Manciple according to Chaucer’s arrangement. It tells an old story about why the crow cries and becomes black. Phoebus， a very capable and handsome God， loves his wife. He has a snow-white crow and it can speak well. One day， the crow tells Phoebus that it witnesses his wife making love to another man of little reputation. Phoebus kills his wife angrily and punishes the crow by taking its song and white feathers away. From that moment on， all crows are black and can not sing. This is a beast fable. Chaucer arranges the Manciple to tell the story and the Manciple lets the animals （the crow， the birds， the cat and the she-wolf） tell the truth. Chaucer combines two philosophical lessons and his creative plot together perfectly.

The first philosophical lesson is that everyone in the world should obey the principles of the nature. Chaucer uses animals’ behaviors to explain human beings’ behaviors. Then the reader understands better Phoebus’ wife’s behavior. In front of a golden cage with “the dainties food and drink” and “a rough， cold forest” with miserable food， any bird without a doubt would rather choose the latter. The reason is that to fly freely is the birds’ nature. Chaucer writes a cat would rather chase a mouse than eat the prepared milk and meat， because chasing mouse is all cats’ born nature； a she-wolf prefers taking “the one with the worst reputation” to satisfy her lust to waiting for a wolf with good reputation because it’s her nature to satisfy her lust. As a natural creature， like the bird， the cat and the she-wolf， she needs liberty and sexual satisfaction. From this perspective， the wife’s behavior is easily understood. Although “Phoebus was jealous and eager to keep her to himself”， she is more eager to escape and to chase her liberty. All her behavior illustrates that “no more can manage to prevent a thing which nature has placed instinctively within a creature”（Chaucer， 728）. Chaucer has the Manciple tell this universal truth as a beast fable， and then he elevates the moral to the human level because this truth is equally applicable. Because of Chaucer’s meticulous arrangement， the philosophical lesson is more impressive and persuasive.