Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale must have been one of
the most appreciated stories among the medieval audiences of The
Canterbury Tales. Even today, though other accounts are more widely
read and analyzed, Custance’s legend stands as a model of narrative
pathos. Following narratological tenets, this paper offers an approach
to the figure of the man of law as a narrator whose peculiar perception
of characters and settings reveals his private attitudes and preferences
as a representative and defender of political stability.
