A father beheading his own daughter, a suicide in prison, and the exile of a peasant (as a mercy). Dreadful occurrences which all trace back to a judge’s decision to cheat his way into a union with a beautiful lady. The judge Appius’s scheme to have Virginia for himself in the Physician’s Tale from Gregory Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales indicates the cosmological significance of the institution of marriage because by attempting to enter it under false pretenses, he brings about ruinous and deadly consequences. Appius’ machinations lead to the destruction of relationships and the gruesome death of the girl he wants, which represents how marriage is now permanently kept from him due to him tainting the institution with his sinfulness. His eventual bitter fate and demise serves as a punishment for his defilement and the woe it had caused.

            Be it the union between Pwyll and Rhiannon in the Mabinogion or the marriages in the Viking Saga, the cosmological significance of marriage has been explored in the “Hidden God of Nature” course as one of the elements of the “hidden God” tradition. The way marriage connects man with the fantastical overlay landscape and how it shapes the minds and hearts of its members have been discussed. However, what happens when someone mars that sacred institution has not been discussed yet. The Physician’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales is one of the few examples of literature that shows the consequences of trivializing or corrupting marriage with one’s own vices and inordinate passions. The core theme of the tale, in the physician’s own words, is to “Forsaketh sinne, er sinne yow forsake” (448, Chaucer). However, when analyzed under the lens of the hidden God tradition, the story serves to illustrate how sin permeates love and desire, and turns someone away from the more profound aspects of a marital connection.

With his eyes and heart set on Virginia, the stunning and virtuous daughter of Virginius, the unscrupulous Appius hatches a plot with the peasant Claudius to “obtain” her through the use of underhanded means and his knowledge of the law. This decision marks the beginning of the troubles that occur throughout the rest of the tale, for he is corrupting the idea of marriage with his lust and callousness. The word “marriage” or the phrase “take her as my wife” are not used anywhere in the tale, which could mean that the Physician narrating the story considers Appius’ action so far removed from the sacredness of marriage that he dares not even call it his intention. Nevertheless, the story uses language that indicates he wants to somehow possess Virginia as his own, showing that his intentions are devoid of self-giving and distinguishing what he wants their relationship to be from what a true marriage is supposed to be. It indicates a desire for conquest rather than a loving bond, likening it to slavery. In fact, that could be why Appius was so quick and unperturbed to “have” her using the lie of her being his property that Virginius had stolen. For example, when he first lays eyes on her, he exclaims, “This maide shal be min, for any man!” (443, Chaucer) and later in the poem she is referred to as a “thral” (446, Chaucer). Furthermore, he wants to “win the maiden to his purpose” and “to make hir with hir body sinne” (443, Chaucer) . The tale emphasizes the wickedness of his intentions by adding “Anon the feend into his herte ran”, with the implication that the “feend” (or fiend) is the devil.

“If someone is false through hypocrisy, or is guilty of some bad deed, or is slightly touched by some passion….is swept away as useless and inept for works; so that he may not disrupt a union which should remain unbroken, and not divide those who must remain indivisible” (110, Philokalia). This quote from St. Simeon’s Practical and Theological Precepts can be used to predict and explain the effect that Appius’ twist on marriage has on the other characters and their relationship, as well as what ends up happing to. His lust and his falsity through hypocrisy (as a judge who is supposed to be a man of the law) divides a father and a daughter, which is a bond meant to be indivisible, in the most horrific way possible. While Appius does not actively disrupt a marital union in the tale, he distorts the unitive and pure nature of marriage by making it about his selfish desire to conquer the girl. After his ploy is discovered, the townsfolk lock him in prison and exile his co-conspirator, effectively “sweeping them away” from the community to prevent any more fracturing.

The Physician’s tale is a rare example of an old English story that warns the reader or listener of what happens if one disrespects the idea of marriage and tries to gain a romantic partner through false means. By doing this, Appius brought upon epic consequences unto Virginius, Virginia, and ultimately himself and Claudius. He bars himself from ever being with Virginia and cements his treacherous reputation within the town even further, which makes the people cut him off like the gangrenous appendage he was. This shows that in the medieval literary tradition, the cosmological significance of marriage exists in the consequences that comes upon those trifle with it in addition to its unitive and horizon-broadening aspects.