DORIGEN is the faithful wife in The Franklin's Tale. Chaucer seems to have taken the main plot for his story from Boccaccio's Il Filocolo (1333-1339) and to have added elements from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae IV.15-16. In Geoffrey's Historia King Arvirargus loves his wife Genuissa above all else.
Dorigen and Arveragus agree to be friends and lovers in marriage, FranklT 729-760. She loves her husband as her heart's life and grieves when he is away in England seeking honor in arms, FranklT 814-821. To distract her, her friends encourage her to dance with them in a garden, where she meets Aurelius, who has loved her secretly for more than two years, FranklT 824-978. She rashly promises to be his love if he makes the hideous rocks in the harbor disappear, FranklT 979-1021. Aurelius hires a magician from Orleans, who performs the feat. Dorigen, in a quandary, thinks of all the famous women who have been faithful wives, such as Penelopee, and of those who have committed suicide rather than lose their honor, such as Hasdrubale's wife, and wonders if she will have to follow their example. She confides in her husband, however, and he insists that she keep her word. All ends well when Aurelius releases her from her promise. [Alcebiades: Alceste: Aristoclides: Arthemesie: Arveragus: Aurelie: Bilyea: Cedasus: Democion(es): Diane: Habradate: Hasdrubal(es): Gaufride: Ladomya: Lucrece: Nicerate(s): Nichanore1: Penalopee: Phidon: Porcia: Rodogone: Stymphalides: Valeria]
Dorigen is a Celtic name, derived perhaps from Dorguen or Droguen. G.A. Lobineau points out that Dorguen or Droguen is late medieval spelling for the name of the wife of Alain I of Brittany, usually spelled Ohurguen, Orgain, or Oreguen, Ohurgen. Tatlock shows that Droguen is also the name of one of the prominent rocks among the Rochers de Penmarch off the coast of Brittany. The name never appears initially. It occurs ten times in medial positions, FranklT 815, 919, 936, 1457, 1469, 1488, 1500, 1542, 1551, 1598; twice in final rhyming position, FranklT 926, 1090.