The Canterbury Tales: the Man of Law's Tale Themes

The star of suffering in "The Man of Law's Tale," is definitely Custance. But she never whines, complains, or bemoans her fate. Why not? Because she trusts in God, that's why not. Custance is like...

In "The Man of Law's Tale," virtue is straight-up synonymous with faith in God. Sure, Custance has a bunch of non-religious virtues, such as beauty and courtesy, or politeness. But most of her "ben...

"The Man of Law's Tale" portrays its characters as helpless chess pieces in the hands of the stars, fate, or God. We may like to think that we have free will, but according to the Man of Law, we've...

In its exploration of how two different nations succeed or fail at converting to Custance's faith, "The Man of Law's Tale" reflects not only upon Christianity, but the Islamic faith that it wants t...

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...

"The Man of Law's Tale" often links Custance's suffering to the suffering of Christ and Mary. So in a way, the characters that do her wrong, like her two evil mothers-in-law, instantly become linke...

Custance is the standard of womanhood by which all other women are judged in "The Man of Law's Tale." She's pretty, pleasing, polite, and pious. Her most important trait, though, is another P-word:...

Three Big Fat Lies go down in "The Man of Law's Tale." In all of them, Custance is their intended victim. Yet in all cases, the truth is eventually brought to light. In the case of the treacherous...