The Physician's Tale

The Physician's Tale Summary

"The Physician's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is a tragic story about virtue, moral corruption, and the abuse of power. The Physician, a medical expert, tells this tale.

Here's a summary in modern English:

The tale focuses on a young maiden named Virginia, whom the narrator presents as an embodiment of virtue and purity. She is the daughter of a nobleman, Virginius. One day, a corrupt judge named Apius becomes infatuated with Virginia's beauty and desires to possess her.

Unable to control his lust, Apius devises a scheme. He hires a deceitful churl named Claudius to declare in his court that Virginia is a slave whom Virginius has stolen from him and falsely raised as his own daughter. Apius, knowing the truth, sides with Claudius, and orders that Virginia be taken from Virginius and given to Claudius.

Virginius, on hearing the judge's decision, is devastated. He tells Virginia that death or dishonour are her only alternatives and decides to kill her. Virginia weeps, asks whether there is any remedy, requests time to lament, and faints. On recovering, she says she would rather die a maiden, asks him to strike gently, and faints again. Virginius then beheads his daughter. Chaucer, Fragment VI, lines 203-255.

Virginius takes Virginia's head to Apius, who orders his execution. A crowd intervenes to save Virginius and turns against the judge. He is imprisoned for his deceit and eventually commits suicide. Claudius, the accomplice, is sentenced to hang, but Virginius pleads for him and he is exiled instead. Lines 256-276.

"The Physician's Tale" can be read as a critique of judicial corruption and the abuse of power. Virginius's claim that killing Virginia is necessary belongs to his speech within the story; it should not be treated as the wiki's moral judgement.

Source and reading notes

The summary follows Chaucer's Physician's Tale, Fragment VI, lines 1-286, available as Middle English with an interlinear translation on Harvard's Geoffrey Chaucer Website. Virginia's response is at lines 231-253; the Physician's closing warning about sin is at lines 277-286. Keeping these voices separate makes room to examine the tension between the innocent victim's fate and the narrator's concluding lesson.

For the story's relation to Livy and the Romance of the Rose, see Harvard's source commentary.