Chaucer's Clerk's Tale and the Wife of Bath

Paper Summary:

The writer argues that the Clerk's Tale tells a story with the opposite view than that of the Wife of Bath's Tale. The paper tries to prove that the Clerk is commenting on the way in which a wife should behave towards her husband. The writer brings a passage from the tale to illustrate this theory.

From the Paper:

"Petrarch's interpretation of the story, as adopted by Chaucer, is not so much an allegory as an exemplum. In an exemplary story, or a moralized tale, it is customary for the models of human behavior to be presented in extremely unrealistic terms. "Often highly artificial and to a modern reader incredible, these "examples" seem to have appealed very strongly to medieval congregations because of their concreteness and narrative and human interest, as well as their moral implications" (Holman and Harmon 192). In the case of the Clerk's Tale, Griselda's passivity in allowing her children to be, as she is led to believe, slain without a word of protest is, by any standards of genuine behavior, both preposterous and repugnant. However, the usual understanding of the exemplary mode of narrative screens out such irrelevant incidents, while allowing those elements in the story which contribute to its exemplary significance to be fully exploited."

More papers on Chaucer's Clerk's Tale and the Wife of Bath:

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• Analytical Essay # 23237 : "The Canterbury Tales"
• Poem Review # 105992 : "The Canterbury Tales": An Imaginary Dinner Party"

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