The clashing and contradictory responses created by a pathetic tale such as Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale are best explained by the opposition of tragic (and therefore involving) elements found in the narrative events and comic elements found in the distancing style, in the faintly comic story, and above all in the happy Christian ending. Man of Law's Tale is not a Shakespearean tragedy but what may be called a tragedy of victimization, prototypes of which may be found in the Saint's life and in late classical romance. This opposition between emotional involvement and distancing is manifested in various ways, not the least of which is the metrical form of Man of Law's Tale. All this fits in well with what might be called the contempt of the world tradition which advocates a distancing from this world for the sake of an ultimate happy ending in heaven. It is no accident that a major source for Man of Law's Tale is Innocent III's De contemptu mundi.
