Canterbury essays

Canterbury essays The Clerks Tale is an indirect response to the Wife of Bath who stated that women desire complete sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. The Clerk puts forth a diametrically opposite view and draws the sketch of a totally submissive Chaucers source for the Clerks tale is Petrarchs Fable of Obedience and Wifely Faith written in Latin that was in turn derived from Boccaccios Decameron. Chaucer closely follows Petrarchs text. Chaucer makes the Clerk candidly acknowledge that his tale is derived from "Frauncey's Petrak". The Clerks Tale is suited to his character as a serious student. His tale too has a scholarly theme and deals with the issue of genuine obedience and loyalty in a wife. Griseldas story upholds faith in goodness even in times of adversity. It is definitely a moral tale and the Clerk relates it with all seriousness and The Hosts warning to the Clerk to keep his language simple and to tell an entertaining and adventurous tale were not needed. The tale proves that the Clerk was not an ossified academic. However the Clerk does not relate an adventurous tale and does make use of rhetoric and figures of speech. When the Clerk concludes his tale the Host commends him for relating his story in a sweet and Chaucer has invested, the folk tale Petrarchan version of the patient Griseldas story, with an amazing degree of realism. Griselda comes across as a real life human character. Her sincerity to her husband and affection for her children seem realistic. Her pathos is heart rending and earns the readers Griseldas story of long suffering may be unappealing to modern readers. But it is important to interpret the tale in the context of the fourteenth century. Griselda was simply acting in accordance ...