The Tale of Melibee
E951993
The Tale of Melibee is a lengthy prose narrative in Geoffrey Chaucer’s *Canterbury Tales* that explores themes of patience, counsel, and forgiveness through a moral debate over how to respond to injury.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Tale of Melibee canonical | 1 |
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Canterbury Tales tale
ⓘ
moral tale ⓘ prose narrative ⓘ |
| adaptationOf | Liber consolationis et consilii NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| audience | medieval lay readers and listeners concerned with ethical conduct ⓘ |
| author | Geoffrey Chaucer NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| centralCharacter |
Melibee
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Prudence NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| containsCharacter | Melibee’s daughter ⓘ |
| containsMotif |
consultation of multiple advisers
ⓘ
wounded child as a test of parental virtue ⓘ |
| contrastWith | The Tale of Sir Thopas NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| didacticPurpose |
to instruct readers in the discernment of good and bad counsel
ⓘ
to promote patience and forgiveness in the face of injury ⓘ |
| form | prose ⓘ |
| genre |
didactic literature
ⓘ
moral allegory ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | late 14th century ⓘ |
| interpretiveIssue | often discussed in relation to Chaucer’s views on authority and textual citation ⓘ |
| language | Middle English ⓘ |
| length | one of the longer tales in The Canterbury Tales ⓘ |
| literaryFunction |
illustrates the value of wise counsel over rash vengeance
ⓘ
provides a serious, didactic counterpoint to more comic tales in The Canterbury Tales ⓘ |
| literaryTradition | medieval conduct and consolation literature ⓘ |
| moral | Christians should seek prudent counsel and practice mercy rather than immediate revenge. ⓘ |
| moralTechnique | use of authorities and exempla to support Prudence’s arguments ⓘ |
| narrativeMode | frame tale within a pilgrimage narrative ⓘ |
| narratorWithinCanterburyTales | Chaucer (the pilgrim) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originalMedium | manuscript ⓘ |
| partOf | The Canterbury Tales NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| plotSummary | Melibee seeks revenge after enemies attack his house and injure his daughter, while his wife Prudence counsels patience and forgiveness. ⓘ |
| positionInCanterburyTales | told after The Tale of Sir Thopas ⓘ |
| religiousContext | medieval Christian morality ⓘ |
| setting | Melibee’s household and its surrounding community ⓘ |
| source | French prose version of the Liber consolationis et consilii ⓘ |
| sourceAuthor | Albertanus of Brescia NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| structure | extended debate between Melibee and Prudence ⓘ |
| style | heavily rhetorical and exemplum-based ⓘ |
| theme |
Christian ethics
ⓘ
counsel ⓘ forgiveness ⓘ patience ⓘ proper response to injury ⓘ prudence ⓘ revenge ⓘ |
| tone | serious and didactic ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.