Chaucer - The Franklin's Tale - Magic or not?

A friend of mine has been telling me that in the Franklin's Tale there is no magic used anywhere, and the effects caused are merely through clever tricks. To use the vanishing rocks as an example, he says that the magician merely waited for high tide which explains him looking at the mansions of the moon. As for the illusions, the magician is merely drugging Aurelius and his brother.

Is there any grounds for what he's saying, or is it all wrong? I did point out that the rocks were covered for about a fortnight, so it couldn't be high tide, but I'm not sure.

Reply 1

Nicholas Urfe

It's a while since I've read the Franklin's Tale, but from what I can remember, I think I agree with your friend. The focus seems to be placed upon illusion rather than magic, primarily because it reflects the greater themes of the tale; namely, subtle deception and underlying objectives. Although, if this is the case, it seems strange that the magician is named 'the magician', if he is, in reality, more of an illusionist (or drug dealer, even). I know that the term 'magician' obviously refers to illusion too, but we normally associate it with magic in its 'broader sense'.

Reply 2

AlphaWulf

Hm yes I see the angle you're coming from, but I thought that in courtly love romances magic was often a key theme in the story. I also can't understand why high tide would keep the rocks hidden for 2 weeks.

Reply 3

Nicholas Urfe

I think one of Chaucer's great qualities is the way in which he manipulates genre. He does't give us quite what we are expecting from the courtly romance, and seems to find pleasure in pushing boundaries and breaking conventions. And, I agree that, being written in the style of a Breton Lai, we certainly expect to see the supernatural element within the tale. I suppose the fact that we are having this debate completely plays into Chaucer's hands -- he wished to distort the picture, by blurring those things which we are expecting to see, with those things which we do see. Have you read Marie de France's Lais? They're great to read in parallel to the Franklin's Tale.

Reply 4

AlphaWulf

Sadly no, I've never really read many lais. I do agree that Chaucer tries to distort conventional tale styles, though somehow I worry that we're going too in-depth into it. I mean, how do we know that it was Chaucer's intention to confuse the reader? Perhaps we're simply meant to take the Franklin's Tale for what it is, an interesting tale told to amuse.

Reply 5

nayiseda

That's what is interesting about it. Dont forget its also the Franklin telling the story and so you can always discuss Chaucer's intentions in relation to the Franklin and the characterisation tha Chaucer develops. My opinion is that the whole 'magic' episode was the Franklin's attempt to show his intellect and subconsciously his snobbery since he gives a detailed account of the event but still manages to undermine the clerk (or magician) firstly by emphasising the pre-christian setting to his audience and then through the plot, love and 'gentillesse' prevails over the illusion.

Reply 6

AlphaWulf

Hm, this all confuses me greatly. Why would Chaucer want the Franklin to seem snobbish, or is this merely deepening an essentially fictional character? Also, isn't the Franklin meant to be the pilgrim who represents Chaucer the most? If this is the case, surely Chaucer would want to emphasise his positive qualities, not his negative ones.

Reply 7

~**~emma~**~

there is no single answer for the 'illusions' aurelius sees at the clerks house.

however, my english teacher told us that the rock were covered by a high tide for ages (some freak thing that happens once in a while, i don't really understand it, but it happens).

one of the themes of the tale is science and magic because at the time only the educated classes understood science (like the moon controling tides and not magic). so it shows that the clerk understands science, but aurelius, although a squire, doesn't

Reply 8

jeffreyweingard

I am doing Chaucer's Franklin's Tale for my OCR poetry and prose module. At the moment, I am not getting very good marks on passage-based commentary questions. Can someone show me a sample of an A grade passage-based commentary?