In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer describes the actual practice of alchemy as a ruse. In the Canon Yeoman's Tale and Franklin's Tale, transformation is only an illusion when one attempts to go against the forces of nature. In Wife of Bath's Tale, an old lady is transformed into a beautiful young wife only through magical forces. The principle of alchemy, however, becomes a reality in these three tales when the individuals themselves change. The only transformation humans are capable of must come from within. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In the Canon Yeoman's Tale, the audience is immediately informed by the yeoman's warning that alchemists are false, deceptive liars for their practices. The yeoman begins his tale by discussing the debt he incurred for participating in this sinful occupation. As Frank Schleicher writes: “He reveals the truth about his former employer and the canon leaves “to see the sorrow and shame” (63). Alchemy is a "slippery science" because alchemists take the pilgrims' gold and turn it into nothingness. Placing the gold in the pot only creates the illusion that the gold is purified. The easily fabricated illusion therefore introduces the complication that nothing is what it appears to be. The yeoman's long expression of penitence, however, indicates that a transformation has taken place. In these terms, the Canon is a legitimate alchemist, because his sinful teachings lead to the yeoman's epiphany that he must abandon his lifestyle and repent after his separation from his employer, Schleicher argues: "He has does it. first step towards a real conversation. He renounced the sin with which he had lived for so long and began the movement toward full penitence” (63). He is eager to reveal the truth about alchemy because he is willing to abandon this lifestyle of sin: And yet, for all my intelligence and all my sorrow, / For all my sorrow, my labor and my misdeeds, / I can never leave it in no wise. / Now God is enough for me with everything / To say everything that aspires to this art! / But Nathelees, yeah, I said part of it. / Syn that my lord is mad, I would not have appeared; / Changing what I know, I will declare it (VIII 712-19). The Yeoman reveals the difficulty of leaving the occupation so far, but his confession remains genuine. Schleicher points out the interesting way in which the storyteller begins to react to his Tale: "No less than three times in the second part of his tale the Yeoman interrupts himself to proclaim that he is tired of his Tale" (66). These interruptions suggest that the guilt and shame are too heavy for his heart, so much so that “it bores me to rhyme.” He seems desperate to ask for forgiveness after realizing that he has spent much of his life serving the false Canon and the lies of alchemy. Schleicher's assertion: “The planned account of his sinful profession has exhausted the narrator. He wants to go out. He wants to end it” (67) – effectively illustrates the yeoman’s internal transformation. The guilt resulting from the sinful practices that the Canon has taught the yeoman brings about this change, as well as the change in his desires. In Franklin's Tale, the accomplished task of moving the rocks on the shore is nothing more than an illusion created by a magician. Dorigen playfully assigns this task with the intention of it being as impossible as fulfilling Aurelius' request to be with him. Aurelius, fervent, prays to Apollo, the god ofpoetry, to transform the landscape of the shore so that there are no more rocks. Apollo refuses to answer her prayer because it is, as Sandra McEntire states, “an act completely contrary to the process of nature” (150). Aurèle immediately turns to his brother, an employee, to help him achieve this transformation. Aurèle's brother takes him to an employee whose specialty was the science "by which men make various appearances." This science is comparable to the practice of alchemy, in that both create false illusions for profit. McEntire states: “In their game of creating illusions, the clerks and the squire take from the woman the basis of her experience: what she can see with her own eyes. What men want women to see, not what really exists or the meaning of that existence, is the new agenda” (151). The employee does not have the power to go against the processes of nature, nor does he understand them. “He gathers no grass, root or rock, engages in no activity, does nothing to alter the created reality. He just says words, makes equations, calculates the stars, and 'through his magic,' whatever it may be, makes it seem as if 'all the rokkes were amazed'" (151). The employee is not a true alchemist; he is only capable of creating a false illusion. Its inability to transform the landscape on the shore reinforces McEntire's assertion that we are not capable of transforming things over which we have no control. Aurelius' change of heart (voluntarily leaving Dorigen with her husband) shows that a transformation in him has taken place. When Aurelius returns to Brittany, he wastes no time in informing Dorigen of the accomplished task. When Dorigen tells Arviragus what happened while he was gone, he tells him that keeping his promise is more important than the shame that he will do it. When Aurelius learned to what extent Arviragus had accepted Dorigen's promise and how he had sent her to fulfill it, he was amazed: "He asserts his concern for her honor, and then holds it to a standard that he does not failed to comply. Honor itself is illusory, a perception of oneself by others, an appearance” (153). McEntire argues that Aurelius' nobility is only an illusion. However, some transformation had to take place within Aurelius for him to succeed in his opportunity with Dorigen. He realizes that he must be noble because it is the right thing to do: "So kan a squire doon a gentile dede / As well as kan a knight, without drede" (1543-44). At the beginning of the story, Aurelius paid no attention to the couple's wedding vows. He looked forward to being with Dorigen and was willing to “work hard to repay his debt to the magician, even to the shame of begging” (155). At the end of the tale, however, he refuses Dorigen's submission because he has realized the importance of her marriage vows to her husband. He is now ready to endure the same suffering as Arviragus. It is Arviragus' nobility that changed Aurelius, making Arviragus the alchemist of this tale. In the Tale of the Wife of Bath, the transformation of the old lady into a beautiful wife is not a reality because it takes place thanks to the forces of magic. No other character inflicts this transformation on him. The only real alchemy that takes place is the purification of the knight, a former rapist: And so bifel that this king Arthour / Had in his house a vigorous bachelor, / That one day cam ridynge fri ryver / And it happened that, all alone as he was born, / He saugh a mayde walkynge hym biforn, / Whose mayde anon, maugre hir heed, / By veray force, he rafte rent maydenhed (III 882-88). At the beginning of the tale, the knight is aggressive and exercises. 3 (1986): 60-77.