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Summary and Analysis of The Clerk's Tale
Fragment IV Prologue to the Clerk's Tale: The Host remarks that the Clerk of Oxford sits quietly, and tells him to be more cheerful. The Host asks the Clerk to tell a merry tale of adventure and not a moralistic sermon. The Clerk agrees to tell a story that he learned from a clerk at Padua, Francis Petrarch. He then praises the renowned Petrarch for his sweet rhetoric and poetry. The Clerk does warn that Petrarch, before his tale, wrote a poem in a high style exalting the Italian landscape. AnalysisIn the Prologue to the Clerk's Tale, Chaucer indulges yet again in a mild critique of his contemporaries. Here he analyzes Petrarch's stories and finds fault with his overindulgent descriptions of the Italian landscape, yet nevertheless he finds Petrarch's story good enough to adapt for his own Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer did adapt most of these tales from outside sources, modifying them as he saw fit and often making significant changes in tone and plot points. Nevertheless, many of the stories in the Canterbury Tales did not originate with Chaucer himself. The Clerk's Tale: The tale begins with the description of Saluzzo, a region at the base of Mount Viso in Italy. There was once a marquis of this region named Walter. He was wise, noble and honorable, but had one major flaw. He refused to marry, choosing careless pursuits instead. His refusal was so steadfast that the people of his realm confronted him about this, pleading with him to take a wife. They offer to choose for him the most noble woman in the realm for him to marry. He agrees to marry, but makes this one condition: he will marry whomever he chooses, regardless of birth, and his wife shall be treated with the respect accorded the emperor's daughter no matter her origin. Near the palace lived among the humble folk a man named Janicula, who had a daughter Griselde, who was exceedingly virtuous, courageous and charitable. While hunting the marquis found Griselde and immediately decided that this exemplary woman was the one he should marry. On the day of the wedding Walter had not revealed to the public the woman he would marry, and the populace assumed that he would not marry at all. But he came to Griselde's home and asked Janicula for his permission to marry his daughter. The marquis' servants took Griselde and dressed her in preparation for the wedding; she appeared as if she had been born as nobility, not from her actual humble origin. Her virtue and excellence became renowned throughout Saluzzo, for she was essentially a perfect wife. Soon she gave birth to a baby girl, although she would have preferred a son who could be his father's heir. Soon after his daughter was born, the marquis decided to test his wife. He told her that although she was dear to him, to the rest of the nobility she was not. They objected to the new daughter, and wished that she be taken away from Griselde and put to death. The marquis instead sent the child away with one of his sergeants to be raised Walter's sister, the Countess of Panago, in Bologna. Walter did pity his wife, who remained steadfast and dedicated to him, silently accepting her fate and that of her child whom she believed dead. Walter and Griselde soon had another child, this time a boy, and Walter repeated the same test. She accepted it, and told him that she realizes that she was of low birth and would consent to die if it pleased him. However, she does acknowledge that she has had no benefits of motherhood, only the pain of childbirth and a continued pain of losing her children. Yet when this was done Walter thought of more tests to prove his wife's faithfulness. The people came to loathe Walter, thinking that he had murdered his children. Walter devised his next test: he contrived a counterfeit papal bull that ordered Walter to divorce Griselde and take another wife. Upon hearing this, Griselde remained steadfast. Walter ordered that Griselde return to her father's house. She was stoic upon hearing this, and protested her love for Walter, but will not repent for loving him. She only asks that she not be sent naked from the palace, but will be given a simple smock to wear to spare her from suffering the indignity of returning home completely unclothed. Walter denied her even this, but she did not complain, despite the embarrassment. The Countess of Panago arrived at Saluzzo with Griselde's two children. Walter sent a message to Griselde that he would be married soon and wished for Griselde to plan the ceremony. When the people saw the supposed new wife, they at last ended their complaints, thinking that the new wife was as fair as Griselde but had the virtue of youth. When Walter introduced Griselde to his new wife, she pleaded with him not to treat the new wife as unkindly as he did her, but had no malice in her words. Walter kissed Griselde and claimed that she had always been his wife. He reveals to her the actual fate of her two children the supposed new wife was actually Griselde's daughter. Walter returned Griselde to the castle where he from then on treated her kindly. The Clerk claims that Petrarch's moral to this story is that all women should strive to be as steadfast as Griselde, but not necessarily have to suffer the same torture. Analysis: The Clerk's Tale serves primarily to applaud the virtues of patience and noble suffering in women, as represented by Griselde. She suffers unimaginable tortures at the hands of her husband, losing her two children and finally her husband merely to prove that she is capable of bearing any burden placed upon her. However, although the story is a celebration of Griselde's fortitude, the Clerk accurately judges that it would be impossible for any woman to legitimately withstand the suffering that Griselde faced with such resignation. Furthermore, her extreme behavior is not even commendable, for she allows her husband to murder her two children without struggle. The Clerk indicates that women should strive toward the example that Griselde sets, but not necessarily follow her example in such an extreme form. Chaucer does humanize Griselde at several points in the story. Although she is a passive character, she is self-aware and realizes that she suffers nearly inhuman torture. When she gives birth for the second time, Griselde laments that she has never experienced the joys of motherhood, and she pleads with Walter to allow her to leave his estate with some dignity. She does not beg for mercy from Walter, but merely asks to be spared some of the indignation that he has inflicted upon her. Without this realization that her situation has been so wretched, Griselde would seem not steadfast, but rather dull and dim-witted. Griselde even breaks from her normal passive state at one point in the story, in which she asks Walter to be kinder to his new wife than he was to her. Although the Clerk takes pains to show that this advice contained no hatred toward Walter, this action is nevertheless more bold than Griselde's normal patterns of behavior. The only point in the story in which her actions do not seem plausible is at the conclusion of the tale in which all is restored. She registers no sense of anger at Walter, whose behavior was far beyond abusive. She only appears grateful that her children have been returned to her. The great affection that the narrator has for Griselde makes Walter a problematic character. At the beginning of the tale Walter is the ostensible 'hero,' and the narrator frames his choice as honorable. He marries Griselde for love rather than status. This is no small gesture; Walter expects that the people of his realm will demand that he marry a wealthy and respectable woman. Even here, however, the portrayal of Walter is less than positive. At the beginning of the story he has no wish to marry, choosing the easy life of a bachelor over adult responsibilities. His choice of Griselde, the action in the story which speaks most highly of Walter, does not even do much to redeem him. The portrayal of Griselde is so overwhelmingly positive that Walter's affection for her only proves that he is sentient. Once Walter does begin to test his wife, any sympathy for Walter vanishes immediately. His first test taking away Griselde's first child is a mean-spirited prank with the ostensible purpose of proving Griselde's worth. The means by which he demonstrates Griselde's fortitude is callous and inappropriate to the purpose. The following tests that Walter inflicts on his wife appear to serve a different purpose. Walter's motivation seems to shift from demonstrating his wife's capacities to breaking down his wife. This may be due to envy for Griselde, a woman universally beloved by his people, who at the outset of the story consider Walter irresponsible and immature. By the time Walter sends Griselde naked from his home he has become wholeheartedly sadistic. The reconciliation that concludes the Clerk's Tale is therefore unsatisfying, for it restores to Walter what he does not deserve. The reconstruction of the family that occurs when Griselde and her children return to Walter's estate is at best tenuous, bringing together a wife and a husband who tortured her, and children and the parents who did not raise them.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
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