Recasting the Canterbury Tales: Stage 2

The Franklin's Tale in The Canterbury Tales evaluates love and generosity. It illustrates how people can overcome their desires and make sacrifices for the happiness of others. In my recasting of the Franklin's Tale, although I am unable to preserve the classic sense that surrounds this tale of romance and morals, I aim to redecorate the tale, so that it is more appealing to today's audience, and its message is able to reach more people.

Chaucer describes the Franklin as a wealthy landowner who "live[s] in delight" and whose house "rained...of meat and drink" (Chaucer 21). Chaucer also elicits that the Franklin has a bit of a temper and easily yells at his servants: "Woe to his cook unless his sauces were pungent and sharp" (Chaucer 21) This reveals that the Franklin is somewhat hypocritical, since in his tale he preaches generosity and kindness. Chaucer uses the Franklin to satirize people who tell others to do the right thing but commit the same vices they speak against.

In my recasting, the franklin will be a similar character in personality and in class, but my Canterbury Tales will set in the future, which explains upgrade from the horse to the hover bike. He will retain his wealth and intolerance for those beneath him, and the plot of his tale will generally remain the same with a few moderations to suit the modern audience and so that it adapts into the futuristic setting.

In the Franklin's Tale, a knight, Averagus, whom I have replaced with a Spartan from Halo the game, falls in love with a beautiful lady, Dorigen, one "fairest under the sun," and asks for her hand in marriage (Chaucer 379). The Franklin portrays the knight as a very chivalrous character, since he agrees to take both "lordship and servitude" in marriage, protecting as well as obeying his wife (Chaucer 383). This is a very radical notion to be proposed in the thirteenth century, since women had very few rights, and men always held power over their wives. Nonetheless, it reveals that the Franklin believes that a husband should be kind to his wife and that the husband should give his wife sovereignty over him, similar to the message conveyed in the Wife of Bath's Tale. Later, unfortunately, Averagus is called off to war in England's war against the French, which I have readapted into a space war against aliens and droids. The Franklin does not go into detail about the battles the knight fights through because this story is more about delivering a romantic message, and it is rather difficult to vividly describe a battle using only words. However, today's audience is more interested in seeing advanced computer graphics and with video technology, I am able to portray the battle.

As Dorigen waits for her love to return, a "joyful squire, servant to Venus" falls in love with Dorigen and does everything to win her heart (Chaucer 391). Dorigen tells the squire that if he can "remove all the rocks" from the shore--which I have recasted as a black hole in space--so that ships may pass safely through, she agree to love him (Chaucer 393). Dorigen does this partly because she is afraid the rocks will cause Averagus's ship to capsize when he finally returns and also because she knows this is an impossible task. This is perhaps the first display of generosity. After years of waiting, Dorigen has fallen into despair and is willing to give up her happiness for the safe return of her husband.

Aurelius tries many ways to achieve this task, and eventually he finds a scholar, also a magician, whom I have replaced with Yoda from Star Wars, who will remove the rocks--or black hole in my case-- for a heavy price of a thousand pounds. The rocks are removed and two days later, Averagus returns from two years of war. He tells Dorigen that she must keep her promise and is willing to give up his happiness to preserve Dorigen's reputation. Once again, the Franklin portrays the knight as a chivalrous and honorable man, and establishes the idea that if a man truly loved a woman, he would be willing to let her go--an idea that has survived and is even more prominent in today's stories.

Surprisingly, Aurelius sees the love between Dorigen and Averagus and decides to release her "of every oath and every bond" she has made him (Chaucer 423). With this turn of events, the Franklin reveals that generosity and chivalry is not restricted to knights but can be displayed by any person regardless of class or occupation. When Aurelius returns to the magician to inform him that he is unable to pay off all of his debt, the magician, touched by his story, releases him of his debt, which is consistant with the image of the character I have chosen to play this part, since Yoda is also a wise and understanding character. With this plot twist, the Franklin implies that generosity spreads and that if one person is generous to others, the generosity will find its way back to that person.

The Franklin establishes this idealized world where people are willing to sacrifice their own happiness for the happiness of others and claims that as a result of this generosity, there will always be a happy ending for everyone. At the end, the Franklin makes a final question: "who was the most generous" (Chaucer 427)? Although Aurelius ends up losing his love, I would say Dorigen, Averagus, and Aurelius were equally generous, each willing to give up their own happiness for the happiness of his or her love because generosity is not measured from the result after everything has been resolved but at the moment it is given. In the end, Aurelius is compensated with the freeing of his debt for the loss of his love, but still, love can never be replaced with money; however, I believe that if this tale was about Aurelius, it would not end there, and Aurelius would eventually find happiness. On the other hand, the magician only gave up money and his services, so he was rewarded with the thought that he helped out a generous man.

So, a thought to bear in mind: generosity eventually finds its way back to those who are generous and rewards them with happiness in the end.