The Charater of the Physician in The Physician's Tale

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The Charater of the Physician in The Physician's tale

Geoffrey Chaucer significantly describes many characters in the piece of literature, The Canterbury Tales. One fascinating tale he writes is the physician's tale. The physician's tale describes a story of mortal sin and lust. This tale reflects the physician in various ways. Also, many characters are portrayed in this tale such as the knight, the girl, and the judge. Each of these characters plays an important role in this tale as they help portray the characteristics of the physician. Furthermore, Chaucer explains some ecclesiastic criticism towards the end of the tale that also represents the physician.

To begin with, the physician's tale starts off with a knight surnamed Virginius. He was an honorable knight who was also a caring father. He had one daughter. This girl was a virgin and had the perfect traits a man would want in a girl. She was prudent, bountiful, and staid. Her beauty and her kindliness would attract men. But one day she went into town towards the temple. At the town, there was a judge named Appius, in charge of the city. The judge laid his eyes on this girl and wanted her badly as he thought, "I'll have that girl whether I sink or swim!" So therefore he planned out a nasty strategy to have this girl. He hired a very deceitful blackguard who was living in the town. The blackguard was not allowed to tell anyone about this trick otherwise he and the judge would be severely punished. The day had come where the judge was going to execute his plan. This was a huge conspiracy ...

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...l get cured. On the other hand, the judge acts the same way. He decides whether or not if accused is innocent or guilty. The judge has complete power over the accused that come to his court. He can make them live or die. Going on, the physician is represented the judge through this tale as they have similar traits.

The physician's tale portrays many characteristics of the physician himself. The physician is portrayed through all the criticism, similarities, and judgments that are made throughout this tale. Furthermore, the character that is represented by the physician is Judge Appius. He is portrayed as deceitful and powerful where as the physician has similar traits. Geoffrey Chaucer thoroughly depicts the physician as a character with many distinguishable traits.

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