Cantebury Tales Essay Research Paper In The

Cantebury Tales Essay, Research Paper

In |The Clerks TaleX and |The Wife of Bath TaleX from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, characters are demanding, powerful and manipulating in order to gain obedience from others. From all of The Canterbury Tales, |The Clerks TaleX and |The Wife of Baths TaleX are the two most similar tales. These tales relate to each other in the terms of obedience and the treatment of women. |The Wife of Bath TaleX consists of one woman who has complete control over her husbands. It evolves the idea that a woman is more powerful and controlling in a relationship. She intimidates her husbands to do things and treat her in a certain ways so that they would buy her material things and favors. |The Clerks TaleX supports almost the opposite idea about women. It mentions that the man has complete power in the relationship and the woman must obey everything that the husband says. Such is the case with Walter and Griselda. Walter is demanding and controlling over Griselda. She does whatever he says and she lacks her own opinion. One difference between these tales however is that |The Clerks TaleX is a very unrealistic story, whereas |The Wife of Baths TaleX is a more practical story and would have the possibility of taking place. Between the two stories, the Wife of Bath and Walter are both characters who are the most demanding in order to gain obedience. Both characters demand love, a sign of obedience to them. Walter tells Griselda that the only way they will marry is if she promises to obey his commands. He says |you love me as I know and would obey, being my leige-man born and faithful to whatever pleases me I dare to say may succeed in also pleasing youX(329). Walter demands her to love him and does not give her a choice. In addition, the Wife of Bath also shows some of the same signs of |tyrannyX toward others. She takes reference from the Bible to defend her opinions on a husband obediently loving his wife. To justify her beliefs, the Wife of Bath says that |thus the apostle Paul has told it me, and bade our husbands they should love us well. There+s an command on which I like to dwellX (262). Both Walter and the Wife of Bath are demanding to bring them happiness and satisfaction in therms of getting obedience. In addition to demanding love, both characters demand favors, a representation of their obedience. Walter gives Griselda jewels and rings for her to wear demanding the favor of her obedience to him, | the marquis bade prepare brooches and rings, all for Griselda, lit with jewels, gold and lapis.X (328). The Wife of Bath also demands the favor of her personal satisfaction from others. She demands material treasures and sexual desires from her husbands. | But as I had them eating from my hand and as they yielded me their gold and land, why then take trouble to provide them unless to profit my leisureX (264). She is a very persuasive and controlling woman who seeks personal favors to symbolize obedience. She and Walter both share the quality of demanding favors to bring them happiness and satisfaction in the terms of obedience. Lastly, the two characters demand to test people to see the level of obedience that they will gain from them. Walter tests Griselda by taking away her two children. He tests how much obedience she has to him. He longed to test her constancy and was in a way possessed with it. She responds by saying |we are all yours and you may spare or kill what is your own. Do therefore as you willX (335). She gives him complete control over her life and her children’s’ lives. This is the way that she shows obedience to him. In addition to her testing her husbands, the Wife of Bath also tests the Knight to see how much respect and loyalty he will give her. She disguises herself as a way of testing the Knight to see if he would be obedient to her no matter how horrid and disgusting she was. |For which he swore and played his honor to it, that the first thing I asked of him he+d do itX (286). By testing, these characters seek to find obedience from any form. They are both the type of characters who demand and seek things for their own personal pleasures and satisfactions. Between the |Clerks TaleX and |The Wife of Baths TaleX, both Walter and the Wife of Bath are the most powerful characters who seek obedience through this power. Both characters are powerful in love. This power brings them obedience from others. Walter is a very powerful man to get love from his servants. In his eyes, this power shows obedience. Walter is commanding to his servants by saying that | whomever I choose, you shall honorX (325). The servants reply with pure obedience by professing that, | we love you well sir are indeed rejoiced in all you do or ever will.X (323). Walter is also powerful to get love from Griselda from being controlling and demanding. She promises to |marry and submit herself to WalterX(330). Walter is always controlling over his servants and his wife. He tells Griselda that, |I would have you understand as pleasing to your father and to me that I should marry you, and here’s my hand if, as I my conjecture youX(330). Walter tries to prove to people like his wife and his servants that he is omni- powerful over everything and that he is the only one who has say over anyone+s life. Walter obviously decides what the servants do as well as what Griselda does. Griselda is shown as a very unassertive and non-confident women partly because of Walters treatmen