Rash promise explained

The rash promise, also blind promise or rash boon is a promise given without considering its consequences. It is a common motif in medieval and folk literature, especially fairy tales.[1] [2] It is classified in the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature as motif M223[3] [4] and likely has an Oriental origin.[5]

Examples

Bible

Mark 6.14-29: the beheading of John the Baptist involves a rash promise of king Herod Antipas to Salome, the daughter of his second wife Herodias, who, by her mother's advice asked for the head of John.[6]

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Franklin's Tale", itself partly based on Boccaccio's The Filocolo: Dorigen, a married woman whose husband is absent, promises another suitor that he may have her if she makes the rocks on the coast of Brittany disappear.[7]

Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale": the main character, a young rapist knight threatened with execution if he cannot answer the question "What do women want?," promises an older woman (the proverbial "loathly lady") anything she desires if she can provide the answer (she desires to marry him).[8] [9]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Mitchell, Jerome. Scott, Chaucer, and Medieval Romance: A Study in Sir Walter Scott's Indebtedness to the Literature of the Middle Ages. registration. 9 January 2013. 1987. UP of Kentucky. 9780813116099. 175.
  2. Book: Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. registration. 9 January 2013. 1995. Merriam-Webster. 9780877790426. 433. Franklin's Tale, The.
  3. Book: Thompson, Stith. Stith Thompson. Motif-index of folk-literature : a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends. 1955–58. Indiana UP. Bloomington.
  4. Book: Chaucer. Geoffrey. Benson. Larry Dean. The riverside Chaucer: based on The works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 9 January 2013. 2008. Oxford UP. 9780199552092. 895–.
  5. Book: Edwards, Robert R.. Robert M. Correale. Mary Hamel. Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales. 1. 2003. D. S. Brewer. Cambridge. 9780859918282. 211–65. The Franklin's Tale. https://archive.org/details/sourcesanalogues0001unse/page/211.
  6. [Brenda Deen Schildgen]
  7. Book: Clouston, W. A.. F.J. Furnivall. E. Brock, W.A. Clouston. Originals and analogues of some of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. 1872. Furnivall. 289–340. The Damsel's Rash Promise: Indian Original and Some Asiatic and European Variants of Chaucer's Franklin's Tale.
  8. Book: Mann, Jill. Geoffrey Chaucer. 9 January 2013. 2002. Boydell & Brewer. 9780859916134. 10.
  9. Book: Wollock, Jennifer G.. Rethinking Chivalry and Courtly Love. 9 January 2013. 2011. ABC-CLIO. 9780275984885. 169.

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