12/11/08

Today Mr. Lazarow went over the Physician’s story.

- Very well dressed in a gown of blue and red
- Shows his wealth because those dyes are very expensive.
- He is a doctor, but it is not as prestigious as it is today
o No school for it
o Had to study out of books, no hands on learning
o It was illegal and immoral to desecrate a corps
- This time period started the black market in dead bodies
o Smugglers stuffed corpses into an alcohol barrel to smuggle them
o Would deliver bodies to those who wanted them and then would turn around and sell the alcohol to the saloons
- The physician is seemingly well off, described as having studied vast amounts, studied in all the different schools of philosophy, and knows all the techniques of the day.
- He is an expert in the “humours” 4 fluids that were believed to control all aspects of human life, imbalances would cause changes in behavior
- The for fluids were: blood= passions, yellow bile= anger, black bile= melancholy, phlegm= cowardice.
- Talks about emulates and how they can help heal when they are used with the right star combination
- Chaucer describes him as a liar and a cheat because of his relationship with apothecaries. The apothecaries refer people to the doctor and then the doctor refers them to the apothecaries, therefore creating their own business.
- He is very, very fond of gold (known for having healing properties) held it close to his heart, because of its healing properties and because he loves it.
- The physician tells one of the worst tales in the whole Canterbury Tales
-3 characters, a noble virtuous knight, his noble daughter, and an evil judge
o The judge really wants to have the daughter of the knight but knows he can’t have her because she is nobility and he is not.
o The judge tells a minion to come before him in court and say the daughter of the knight is his escaped slave and the judge will call for her return.
o This happens and the judge tells the knight to hand her over.
o The knight and the daughter know all about the judge’s plan to take the daughter as a sex slave, so they decide that the only honorable thing to do is for the knight to kill the daughter because it is better to die in honor than be disgraced, so he beheads her.
o The judge is outraged and accuses the knight of murder, but the knight denies it because of it was the honorable thing to do
o The knight makes the minion confess and the judge and the minion are honored and executed.
o Again one of, if not the worst story in the entire Canterbury Tales

Posted by Dan Beam