Davis, Craig. “A Perfect Marriage on the Rocks.” The Chaucer Review 37.2 (2002): 129-144

Craig Davis explores the unusual attraction and marriage of the noble knight and his wife (of higher social status) in Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale. Davis begins by examining Chaucer’s real life marriage to Phillipa, the daughter of Sir Payne de Ruet, who was of a higher social birth then Chaucer. The Franklin’s Tale mirrors this marriage through the relationship of Arveragus and Dorigen. Arveragus, a noble knight, must work hard to gain the attention and admiration of Dorigen, which takes a lot of time and consideration on her part because of his lower social status. However, his hard work on Arveragus’ part is seen as the hard work of true love and thus their relationship of humble and noble birth is validated. Davis lays emphasis on the characters difference in social status and how this challenges their marriage.

Davis first approaches this argument through the idea of unequal marriage. Chaucer shows how the relationship of a strategic marriage might be experienced in an emotional manner. Arveragus has to work hard to win the recognition of a woman who enjoys these luxuries simply because of her higher status of birth. As seen through the eyes of the Franklin, the love for Dorigen from Arveragus is true and interest free, in other words he is not motivated by any social opportunities. “That investment is depicted as spontaneous and interest free, as motivated not by calculation of future benefit, but by true love” (Davis 132). Arveragus has had to do many things in order for his love to be taken seriously by Dorigen. He has had to upgrade his own social status through demonstrating his effectiveness as a knight and also has to convince Dorigen that he will not challenge her “inborn superiority” (Davis 132) by taking on the role of the dominant husband. Dorigen only begins to consider taking Arveragus as a male suitor once this public display of worth is established.

Davis now looks at the idea of mutual obedience, which is possible in the marriage of Arveragus and Dorigen because the male is inferior to the wife. “It is this structural social inferiority of the husband that makes possible the balance between competing systems of dominance and subordination celebrated in the Franklin’s’s sermon, a chiastic tension between the roles of ruling lady and submissive lover, of the husband who is head of the wife” (Rigby 133). This creates a delicate balance of power, where the partners are equal in their relationship while still holding onto their own individuality. Davis also explores the idea of mutual obedience through the couples relationship to other people or to society. The Franklin depicts this relationship to society as being very crucial to how well the private relationship of the marriage will work. However, a relationship that relies on this type of public acceptance leaves itself open to vulnerability. “…One of which is a shift in perception of the relative status of the partners through time, a widening of the social distance between them after the retirement of the subordinate husband from the knightly endeavors through which he first elevated his public worth and won his lady’s consideration” (Davis 133).

Next, Davis explores what happens to the marriage of Averagus and Dorigen when conventional responsibility sets in. Averagus is of lower birth than his wife Dorigen and therefore must maintain his achieved status which attracted Dorigen to him in the first place. Averagus leaves to “reconfirm his knightly worthiness” (Davis 135) and Dorigen, who is supposed to wait patiently for his arrival, begins seeking attention from other male suitors. Their seems to be a reversal of roles happening here, according to Davis, “It is as if the Franklin deliberately weakens his lady’s character, just as he has strengthened his knight’s, in order to bring their desperate social identities into a more interesting and dramatic tension’ (Davis 135).

In concluding his article, Davis reads Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale as an example that marriage, even what appear to be perfect marriages, can be filled with emotional fraught and deliberate considerations of “advantage and liability in social status, wealth or political alliance (Davis 138). Davis uses the marriage relationship in the Franklin’s Tale to exemplify the importance of mutual obedience and how to survive when two people start to lose sight of this idea. “Happiness in love requires not only the commitment to mutuality, but also some considerable forbearance for the various kinds of human weakness that inevitably cause one to fall short of the ideal” (Davis 138).

Davis’ article does a good job of depicting the difficulties found in a marriage where one partner is of higher birth than the other. He references the Franklin’s Tale, a prime example of this type of relationship, and structures his article based on three ideals vital to a successful marriage. Mutual obedience is an idea that carries through into our modern status on marriage. Coming from a time period where a woman’s main role in marriage was to obey and serve her husband, to a time where husband and wife take on equal responsibility, I think mutual obedience still holds true. The use of the Franklin’s Tale is a perfect example for this ideal because Dorigen is genetically superior to Averagus to begin with, but he maintains his duty as a man by becoming head of the house. The other half of mutual obedience in marriage pertains to the relationship of the married couple to the society in which they live in. Franklin places a heavy importance on this idea, being able to maintain the reputation of dominating husband and submissive wife. I think this statement is very true, the idea of people being concerned with how they appear to other people and where they fit in society, however I do not think it should be considered in determining the worth and happiness of a marriage.