“The
Clerk’s Tale”
- Geoffary Chaucer
Chaucer is one of the greatest poets of
England. he is famous owing to his narrative art. he is called the prince of
story tellers. in the middle ages a great poet was expected to be story teller.
it was believed that a story should be true and full of action. Chaucer ,
therefore , acted in his belief and he wrote straight forward stories with less
description so that reader can get interest from the beginning to the end.
As an narrative
artist, Chaucer never tried to prepare a plot. he borrowed his plots from Latin
, French and Italian literature. but the style was his own and so he could make
the plot golden. the clerk’s tale is also taken by Chaucer from the story of
Petrarch’s Latin narrative. Da insigni obedientia at fide Uxoris’ and the
French . Le Livre Griseldis. Chaucer made Walter and Griselda human being.
Walter is a good man who marries a poor man’s daughter and star testing her
soon after the birth of their first child.
However, also we
can see Chaucer makes some changes. he humanized the story. he portrayed walter
as an ordinary marques. he is seen as a man enjoying present and having whim
not to marry at all. as he marries, suddenly he starts testing the love and
loyalty of his wife. Thus, Chaucer gives various jerks to the readers about
forthcoming actions. this kind of treatment develops the suspense in the story
and makes the narrative very compact and interesting. in the Chaucer narration the flow of narration
does not stop anywhere. though there are some defects in his narration but in
order to make the story, these defects are necessary to make his narration
live. for instance, the clerk’s tale questions about the ill treatment of a
husband towards his wife. it also question against the motherhood because no mother
would permit her cruel husband to murder her children. of course , such doubts
may be faults at first sight. but these are the jerks that makes the narrative
concrete. they intensify the curiosity of the readers. moreover, this tale
tells us the prevalent situation of the time where many feudal lords and
husband must have been like Walter in the middle ages. thus, Chaucer mirrors
his age through his narrative.
In short, it
is summarized that Chaucer admirably drives his poetic energies into a narrow,
deep channel. thus, the “suffering of Griselda are like those of a Christian
saint and the tale gives a message that
one must have courage enough to face the pains as these are sent by the god and
it is god and it is god who test through such tests the inner potentiality of
human being. thus, the clerk’s tale carries certain element of religious fable
also.
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