Essay Justice Will Be Served In The Physician's Tale

“Justice will be served” is a term that is used very often today. It means if you do something wrong, you will ultimately get punished for it in the end. That is the general moral of the story for “The Physician’s Tale”. The author of The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucer, his collection of the various stories talked about in the Canterbury Tales dates back to the 1400th century. The stories that are written are told by a group of thirty people to make the time pass by faster while on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. “The Physician’s Tale” is told by a physician and is centered on a brave and magnificent knight named, Virginius, and his only daughter, Virginia. In the story, he is described as a knight that is full of honor, worthiness, and nobility.
He had wealth, friends, and a wonderful family. In this family of his is a seraphic daughter, named Virginia, who is blessed with great beauty. Her beauty is so significant that Geoffrey asks, “Who can it counterfeit? Pygmalion? Nay..” (Chaucer 13-14). Virginia has a very good reputation and avoids anything that could potentially hurt that. One day, Virginia and her mother decides to go into town to visit the temple. There in town as well, is a false judge named Appius. Appius spots Virginia, and is captivated by her stunning beauty, “…and to his own dark secret heart he said: “She shall be mind in spite of any man” (Chaucer 28-29). He then uses his inveigle ways to make Virginia his own. Appius calls upon Claudius, a peasant, to make a villainous plot to kidnap the beautiful girl,
Virginius says to Virginia, “there are two ways, for either death or shame” (Chaucer 213-214), Virginius could not live with the shame, so he conclusively decides to kill Virginia. He kills Virginia by beheading her with his sword. Virginia’s head is brought to court by Virginius and is proffered to Appius. Appius sees the head and tries to escape. In the meantime, the people of the town came to the realization of his faithlessness, found his hideout, and throws him into prison. Claudius’ sentence is that he was to be hung upon a tree until Virginius requests that he should be exiled