# Dorigen — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> Dorigen in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0041-the-franklin-s-tale

## Snapshot

A noble wife who jests that she will love a suitor only when the black rocks of Brittany vanish from the coast.

## Who they are

Dorigen is the faithful wife of Arveragus in the Franklin's Tale, a woman whose grief over the dangerous rocks off Brittany becomes the pivot of the story. When she playfully names an impossible condition to dismiss a persistent suitor, she binds herself to a promise she never expected to keep. Her anguish over what 'trouthe' demands of her drives the tale's central question about which obligation—to husband, to word, or to self—must yield.

## In the story

### [The Franklin's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-franklin-s-tale)

Arviragus's wife, who makes a rash promise to Aurelius that she will love him if the coastal rocks are removed, and later struggles with the conflict between her word and her marriage.

### [The Franklin's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-tale)

Arviragus's wife, who mourns his absence and, in a moment of jest, promises to love Aurelius if the coastal rocks are removed.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters/dorigen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters