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Ashley Lazo
ENG 413
4/10/2015
 He is a university student of Oxenford (Oxford).
 He has studied logic for a long time.
 He is poor (he and his horse are very thin and impoverished).
 He would rather have books written by Aristotle and his
philosophy than riches.
 He tends to borrow money from his friends and spend it on books
and learning.
 He does not speak much, but when he does it is with due
formality and respect.
 He is generous with his knowledge and is very serious about
learning.
 Christian Romance/ or a morality play?
 Characters:
 Walter (Marquis)- a young and handsome ruler of the most
respected lineage.
 Griselda- a beautiful young woman, who is also poor.
 Part I:
 The Marquis of Saluzzo, Walter, lives for the present and
never thinks of the future especially marriage.
 His people, out of fear that he would die with no heir, beg
him to marry and even offer to find him a wife.
 He agrees to get married and sets a date for the wedding, but
says God will provide a wife.
 He asks his people to accept the woman he chooses no matter
who she is.
 Part II
 Walter falls for a poor woman named Griselda and asks




her father if he can marry her.
With her father’s blessing he asks her to be his wife and
asks if as his wife she will agree to everything he wishes.
She agrees and they marry.
The people of Saluzzo love Griselda.
She gives birth to a daughter.
 Part III
 The first test of Griselda
 Her manner did not change and this pleased the
Marquis.
 Part IV
 Griselda has a boy four years later
 Second test of Griselda
 Walter’s people start to hate him and think he is a murderer
but he sticks to his plan.
 Third test of Griselda
 Part V
 Griselda is sent back to her father’s house to live as a poor,
divorced woman.
 Part VI
 Walter asks Griselda to prepare for his wedding to another
woman (the nerve!!) and she of course agrees.
 He finally sees her loyalty to him and tells her of all the tests
and that her children are alive.
 They then live happily ever after.
 Envoy- short, simple, concluding stanza
 Chaucer warns husbands not to test their wives as
Walter did, because the wives will not be like Griselda.
 Chaucer tells wives to take control of their own minds
and tongues.
https://chaucereditions.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/021-the-clerks-tale.jpg
 It follows the Summoner’s Tale
 Fragment IV (E)
 The Merchant’s Tale
 Wife of Bath’s Tale
 The Marriage Group:
 The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, and the
Franklin’s Tale
 Theme of Virtue
 Theme of Marriage
 Role of Women
 Connection to the Wife of Bath’s Tale
 “The Marriage Group” tales
 The connection to the book of Job in the bible
 The role of women in different tales
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, and Larry Dean Benson. The Riverside Chaucer.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Print.
 N.p., n.d. Web.
<http%3A%2F%2Fir.uiowa.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%
3D1766%26context%3Dmff>.
 "The Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer Summary and Analysis The
Clerk's Prologue and Tale." The Clerk's Prologue and Tale. N.p., n.d.
Web. 09 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/thecanterbury-tales/summary-and-analysis/the-clerks-prologue-andtale>.
 "The Student's Tale." The Student's Tale. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.
<http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/student.html>.