SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

43
That thou accordest to the slawhte
Of him which was thin oghne lord?
. . .
Unkindely for thou hast wroght,
Unkindeliche it schal be boght.
The sone schal the moder sle
(III.2055-69)
His mother is executed as Orestes has vowed: her breasts torn off, and she is drawn and
quartered (III.2070-8). The story of Canace is reversed because in this case the child kills
the parent. However, both deal with unkynde murder that severs the most intensely
primal bond. Orestes’ logic is complex but rational and as with Canace, Genius is
sympathetic to his plight. The murder of Climestre can be excused because the proper
punishment for murder is death. But is it ever right to kill one’s parent (or child)?
Indeed, is there ever a case in which murder is justified? Genius relates three times when
it is allowed: 1) to punish traitors and robbers, 2) to support law and common rights, and
3) to defend one's country (III.2210-40). Amans begins to realize the difficulties that a
king must face in judging the merits of an issue. Peck notes that
this diatribe against war, so timely in the late 1380s as Richard attempts to
maintain peace with France, is the first major political digression that Gower has
allowed his impersonations. . . . Genius acknowledges that nature opposes war:
War burns churches, slays priests, is an excuse for rape of wives and maidens, and
a distraction from law and God. The motives behind war are evil, and its effects
horrendous: conscience is suspended, as war becomes a raw excuse for plunder.
(30)
This tale completes the pattern of reversal by contrasting the two cases: killing a close
family member for wrath (Eolus and Canace) and for justice (Orestes and Climestre).
One is unacceptable for a good king, and one is not only acceptable but even required.