The Tale of Gamelyn: Difference between revisions

The Tale of Gamelyn is a romance written in c. 1350 in a dialect of Middle English with rhymed couplets. This tale is one of the 25 stories within the Canterbury Tales. The poem was added to one version of The Canterbury Tales where it follows the unfinished Cook's Tale, often with a link to make it a second tale. This 900 line tale tells of the son of Sir John de Boundys, Gamelyn, whose brother took the inheritance and he becomes an outlaw in the forest. The estates are later regained by Gamelyn and the cop who helped his brother is hung. This story takes place in the reign of King Edward I and tells the tale of an uncertain hero whose morals are questionable. It analyzes the character of the protagonist Gamelyn, and shows how his innocence may be ignorance and his strength may be weakness. The social and moral values are faced and put into perspective. The tale confronts the corruption of law that shows a lack of moral and political consistency. One person may corrupt the law no matter the level of good, bravery, the age, or how he is perceived by everyone around him.

Chaucer himself had included Gamelyn among his papers, with the intention of rewriting it for a suitable character and it may have been possible that he wanted to write a version of it for use as the Cook's tale. The Tale of Gamelyn is of special interest for its connections with the English ballads of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood. It was a source of Thomas Lodge’s prose romance Rosalynde (1590), on which William Shakespeare based his As You Like It.

Based on English folklore, it tells of Gamelyn, son of Sir John de Boundys, who is deprived of his inheritance by his brother and becomes isolated in the town's forest. With the help of a fellow sheriff, he will finally be able to regain the estates that are rightfully his, and his brother is hung.^[1] The plot concerns the plight of a young orphan whose dishonest older brother takes over his patrimony and mistreats him. Yet sibling rivalry is merely the superficial theme of Gamelyn. Gamelyn is an allegory of a deep and unusual English socio-political concern that began in the Conquest and grew in the following centuries of Norman-Angevin rule.

The story, which recounts Gamelyn's flight to the forest and tries to recover his stolen birthright, has similarities with Shakespeare's As You Like It and with the legends of Robin Hood. Skeat called Gamelyn "the older and longer kind of ballad"

Sibling Rivalry: There is a dramatic sense of sibling rivalry here when Gamelyn’s older brother takes his inheritance and leaves him in the cold. Instead of a prank, Gamelyn is left as an outlaw.

English ideal of justice and equity, against legal oppression and wickedness in high places. The love of free life and the open road.

The name Gamelyn is held to mean son of the old man, from OE gamol, old man. According to line 356 Gamelyn has been oppressed by his brother for sixteen years before he comes to manhood.

There were various expansions of the Cook's Tale, which Chaucer never finished, The Plowman's Tale, The Tale of Gamelyn, the Siege of Thebes, and The Tale of Beryn.

The Tale of Gamelyn was included in an early manuscript version of the tales, Harley 7334, which is notorious for being one of the lower-quality early manuscripts in terms of editor error and alteration. It is now widely rejected by scholars as an authentic Chaucerian tale, although some scholars think he may have intended to rewrite the story as a tale for the Yeoman. Supposedly, Chaucer is not the author of this tale. Instead, it was supposed to be a setup for future works, including Shakespeare's As You Like It. Both are supposedly included in Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie (1590), a prose romance by Thomas Lodge (1557-1625). While Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales and The Tale of Gamelyn is supposed to be included, it has been officially noted as an anonymous work.

Skeat edited the poem separately in 1884 and included it in an appendix to his The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, relying on what he thought was the best manuscript.

It was almost certainly intended by Geoffrey Chaucer to form the basis of his (unfinished) “Cook’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales.

“But may they always prosper, who cause you much grief” (478). “All who give you security, may evil befall them” (481). This is the reverse of the prior quote. “For I am as light of foot as you, even if you swore it to the contrary” “If you brought five with you, you would be twelve” (647). Here, they are foolishly mocking numbers. “I will venture so I might have food” (661). Here, Adam is being ironic since this is an understatement to the scene. “Hearken and listen and hold your tongue, And you shall hear talking of Gamelyn the Young”