The most obvious Other-with-a-capital-O in "The Man of Law's Tale" are the non-Christians with whom Custance comes in contact—the Koran-believing Muslims, the pagan Northumbrians, the unspecified "hethens" on whose shore she fends off an attempted rape. The failure of Custance's marriage to the Sultan, and of Christianity in his land, may be due to the Tale's perception of these people as simply too other, too different, for them to become true Christians. In Northumbria, by contrast, the similarities in the languages Custance and the people there speak symbolize a similarity in culture that enables Christianity's spread. So you might say that the extremity of a people's foreignness becomes linked to their ability to embrace Truth. At the same time, though, Custance is often seen as an Other. From Babylon to Northumbria, her Roman Christianity constantly alienates our Custance.
Questions About Foreignness and the Other
- Who is the Other in "The Man of Law's Tale"? Is there more than one?
- How does "The Man of Law's Tale" connect foreignness with a group's success or failure in their attempt at converting to Christianity?
- Which characters in "The Man of Law's Tale" express fear or dismay when confronted with the unknown Other? What do they fear? How do they handle it?
- How does Donegild's false letter to her son reveal her perspective on Custance's foreignness?
- How does the narrator make Donegild and the Sultan's mother seem foreign or separate from regular people?
Chew on This
Custance's fear of the unknown is, strangely enough, the source of her most substantial connection with two of the foreign groups she fears.
The narrator's description of the Sultan's mother's qualms about Christianity humanize her, making the audience able to relate to her as a fellow believer.