Meun's Roman de la Rose, which Chaucer most certainly did know" meaning that Chaucer added the detail to the story himself. Chaucer's goal in giving Virginia a choice in his version of the tale is unclear. Farber also points out a flaw in Virginius's ultimatum of death or dishonor: "these alternatives are problematic because there would presumably be many other ways to deal with the situation: Virginia could run away; she could go into hiding; Virginius could stall for time while he called together all their friends who were pointedly mentioned when we were introduced to Virginius; and on and on." Some argue that the purpose of Virginia's death is to highlight Virginius's ineptitude as a father. Farber states that Virginius's ultimatum to his daughter would not have been seen as the proper action for a father to take: "it turns out, audiences of the story other than the Host tend to agree, that this is bad governance." However, Farber also argues in the other direction saying that "the responsibility does not lie entirely with Virginius: Virginia embraces her father's logic as well as his power and, voicing both, consents to her own death." Many critics and theorists have also analyzed the value and impact of Virginia's sacrifice in the tale. Daniel T. Kline, in his essay "Jephthah's Daughter and Chaucer's Virginia: The Critique of Sacrifice in The Physician's Tale", asserts that "the Physician's Tale should be read in light not of traditional hagiographical narrative, in which sacrificial death is socially valorized and theologically naturalized, but in view of the account of Jephthah's daughter in Judges 11, a Biblical tale in which the daughter's sacrifice is neither lauded nor condemned." In short, Kline states that Virginia's sacrifice was not something noble but rather a tragic result of a series of unfortunate events. Titus Andronicus Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus pays homage to this tale. After Lavinia is raped and mutilated, her father Titus kills her, arguing that she "should not survive her shame". He then compares himself to Virginius. References External links Read "The Physician's Tale" with interlinear translation Modern Translation of the Physician's Tale and Other Resources at eChaucer "The Physician's Tale" – a plain-English retelling for non-scholars. The Canterbury Tales Filicide in fiction