Many Chaucerian critics find this tale to be among the weakest, the least well constructed, and direly lacking in motivation. For some, it is part romance, part moral allegory, and part realistic horror. Viewing the tale as a moral allegory, it is the story of a man (Virginius — one who upholds purity) who, to save his virtuous daughter from a wicked judge (Appius), cuts off her head. The wicked judge hangs himself when thrown in prison, and his henchman, Claudius, and the other conspirators are exiled or hanged. The child, Virginia, represents Christian purity (virginity), and the false judge, Appius, may be identified with impurity. As a moral allegory, the tale lies in the tradition of many moral allegories of the fourteenth century. But always with Chaucer, the value of the tale lies in the narration.
The Physician introduces Virginia in highly artificial terms. Lady Nature, a personified abstraction, speaks of her marvelous construction as though Virginia were a piece of statuary, creating in the reader's mind an image of Virginia not as a person but as a wondrous figurine, artfully contrived. We do not even learn the name of this ideal person (Virginia) until line 213, about three-quarters of the way through the tale.
