Alchemy and Christianity in Fragment VIII of The Canterbury Tales

Fragment VIII of the Canterbury Tales provides a representative case for evaluating Chaucer as a "Christian poet" whose interest lies in the reconciliation of Christian discourse in the "Second Nun's Tale" with alchemical discourse in the "Canon's Yeoman's Tale." Chaucer tries to place two seemingly different tales, the saint's celestial life and the alchemist's earthly life within Christian myth. In spite of the points of opposition between the Second Nun's religious imagery and the Canon's Yeoman's alchemical imagery, the "Canon's Yeoman's Tale" symbolically ends with the idea of salvation and thereby establishes spiritual alchemy and Christianity as complementary rather than oppositional. Although the "Canon's Yeoman's Tale" involves the satirical tradition or parody on a spiritual transformation in comparison with the previous tale, Chaucer's focus in the former tale is on the sacred implications of alchemy rather than on simply opposition to the saint's story. This is suggested by Chaucer's attitude toward alchemy, by his spiritual view on the alchemist's un-extinguishable quest for the "philosopher's Stone," and by his building the "Canon's Yeoman's Tale" around the theme of penitence.