Book Review Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Canons Yeomans Tale

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Prologue - The Canon and his Yeoman were not with the rest of the Canterbury pilgrims when they first set off on their journey, but dramatically catch up with the party at this point in the narrative. The Yeoman boasts that the Canon, his employer, is a powerful, wealthy and honourable man, though both Canon and Yeoman look dishevelled and their clothes are ragged and dirty. When this is questioned, the Yeoman tells them rather casually hat his master is an alchemist, seeking the means to tell base metals to gold and looking for the Philosopher’s Stone. The Canon is clearly trying to prevent this news being spread further, but the Yeoman continues to gossip and the canon flees away, never to be seen again. The Canon, apparently relieved of his work, and pleased by this, tells his story properly now. The Tale – He has served the Yeoman for seven years, without them finding the slightest success in their ventures and experiments with often-dangerous chemicals, acids and hot furnaces. The Canon has sunk so much money into their work that he now never expects to clear his debts in his lifetime. He has come to recognise the Canon as a charlatan, who has merely used his apprentice – assistant as a means to finance his worthless experiments. The Canon has come to realize that the alchemy art is unnatural, and its goals both impossible to achieve, and an abomination in the eyes of God. The story is in effect a propaganda piece denouncing alchemy in all its guises. Chaucer clearly has no regard for such activity. There is an odd passage in which Plato denounces Alchemists and refers to the work of Christ, though Jesus was not alive until some centuries after Plato had died. After its startling opening arrival, the story becomes more of a rant than a true tale, but it retains some considerable power. Arthur Chappell