The Condescending Curse

The Friar’s Tale

Vignette: satire

Criticism of the vices or stupidity of others for purposes of correction. Often but not necessarily humorous

Depends on stereotypes. Frequently depends on pretended exposure of gap between pretension and performance

Often concerns the behavior of institutions or members of a given profession (as in the General Prologue)

Is a genre or mode, which creates its own legitimacy

Assumes the righteousness/knowingness of the speaker

May or may not be considered culturally/politically legitimate

Is inherently difficult to answer except by counter-satire

Satire and anger

This sinne of ire [anger], after the discrivyng of Seint Augustyn, is wikked wil to been avenged by word or by dede. Ire, after the Philosophre [Aristotle], is the fervent blood of man y-quiked in his herte, thurgh which he wole harm to him that he hateth. For certes, the herte of man, by eschawfinge [heating] and moevinge [turbulence] of his blood, wexeth so troubled that he is out of alle juggement of resoun. But ye shal understonde that ire is in two maneres; that oon of hem is good, and that oother is wikked. The goode ire is by jalousie [protectiveness] of goodnesse, thurgh which a man is wrooth with wikkednesse and agayns wikkednesse. And therfore seith a wys man [Cato] that ire is bet than pley. This ire is with debonairetee [graciousness], and it is wrooth withouten bitternesse: nat wrooth agayns the man, but wrooth with the mysdede of the man.

(The Parson’s Tale, 536-41)

Revisiting the conflict between Miller and Reeve

Another ire is ful wikked, that comth of felonie of herte avysed and cast biforn, with wikked wil to do vengeance, and therto his resoun consenteth; and soothly this is deedly synne. This ire is so displesant to God that it troubleth his hous, and chaceth the hooly goost out of mannes soule, and wasteth and destroyeth the liknesse of god, that is to seyn, the vertu that is in mannes soule, and put in hym the liknesse of the devel, and bynymeth the man fro God, that is his rightful lord. This ire is a ful greet plesaunce to the devel; for it is the develes fourneys, that is eschawfed with the fir of helle. (Parson’s Tale 542-48)

• Direct relationship between inside/outside of tale (Prologue)

• Interruption of tale by Summoner (1332)

• Role of Host, first as peace-keeper then as opposite

• Clearly we are dealing with “ire” in the first, sinful sense

• Specifically with premeditated ire

• What kind of ire is Chaucer showing in writing the tale?

Summoners and Friars

Summoners. Lower officials connected with the ecclesiastical court. Church courts oversaw the moral behavior of members of groups of parishes under the supervision of an archdeacon, who worked for a bishop. The bishop’s diocese was divided into several archdeaconries. The role of the summoner was to serve summonses on those reported to the court to be fined for improper behavior.

Friars. Members of one of four international orders of preaching monks founded in the early 1200s. Highly educated, often associated with towns and cities. Our friar is a Franciscan, who is meant to beg for a living within certain geographical limits (hence “limitour”). Friars reported to the pope directly, not to the diocese. There was competition / tension between friars and the diocesan or “secular” church, ideological and financial. The friars understood themselves as theologically cutting-edge and often were. They came under intense pressure from other parts of the church from the late thirteenth century on, largely because they were so successful.

The Friar’s portrait of the Summoner

1. Institutional Summoner and Archdeacon are both middlemen on the graftThey impose “discipline” using various corrupt systems to collect information and always in the form of a monetary fine (1038ff)A system for preserving good order in the community is thus made the source of taxation revenue for the Church and income for its officials

2. CulturalSummoner is a “yeman” a “good fellow” who looks to make connections with others like himself. He is curious, clever, but also stupid, though he believes he is “subtle” He believes his word is his bond: “trouthe” in sense “oath” (troth) is his deepest valueHe is preoccupied with the outsides of people and moral actionsThus he wants to know about how demons appear, about their shapeHe had no clear concept of their insides, their “entente”

The Friar Gives a Lesson in Demonology

The devil prowls round like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8)

Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:4)

How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! … You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. (Isaiah 14:13)

Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time (Revelation 12:12)

(Hieronymus Bosch: “Hell” detail:Punishment of time-wasters)

Entente

Is an act good or bad objectively or only according to the motive of the actant?

Some acts must partly be judged by the objective harm they do. In modern legal thought, motive is still important. Murder v. manslaughter

The appeal to “motive” or “intention” emerges in western thought in the twelfth century and is vital to adjudicating the meaning of actions by the fourteenth century; not yet in most legal cases but in the context of confession, the annual rite in which sins were confessed to a priest, and also in that of the archdeacon’s court

The Friar, much involved in confession and adjudicating complex moral cases, assumes that morality is intentionalist and has the demon assume the same

The Summoner will have nothing to do with it, partly because it could interrupt the imposition of fines for all moral offences, mostly because he does not understand it

Entente and Curse

1. ‘Nay thanne,’ quos he, ‘the foule feend me feccheIf I th’excuse, though thou shul be spilt!’

2. ‘Unto the devel blak and rough of heweYeve I thy body and my panne also!’

3. ‘Is this youre wyl in ernest that ye seye?’ ‘The devel’, quod she, ‘so fecche hym er he deye –And panne and al, but he wol hym repente!’

4. ‘Nay, olde stot, that is nat myn entente’,Quod this somonour, ‘for to repente meFor anythyng that I have had of thee.’

5. ‘Now brother,’ quod the devel, ‘be nat wrooth,’Thy body and this pan me myne by ryght’

Casuistical Logic or Nonsense?

1 Summoner locks himself in2 Summoner is cursed3 Curse is intended4 Summoner refuses to repent5 Summoner is damned