Abuse Of Power In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

In his literary masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer shows that in “The Clerk’s Tale” a man may abuse his power in a marriage when trying to assert dominance over his wife. A man named Walter puts his wife through many difficult challenges to test her loyalty for him. He lies to her by telling her that his people are unhappy with how poor she is and to solve the problem by killing their children. Instead of killing her children, Walter sent both his daughter and son to Bologna to be foster. Despite getting her kids taken away from her, she seems to have no regret doing anything that her husband asks her to do. He was still unsatisfied at the end that he tells her that he is going to marry another woman and that she should leave …show more content…
for the tale. When the sergeant Griselde’s daughter away, she “endured all the adversity” and says that he should “Bury this little body in some place… That no beasts nor birds tear it to pieces” (Chaucer, line 571-572). This source shows that Chaucer is trying to create pity by showing the relationship between Griselde and her daughter before the sergeant takes her away. The relationship between Walter and Griselde is “not so much that of husband and wife as that of Lord and subject, and such a relationship is clearly defined in the terms in which the marquess proposes marriage to Griselde” (Morgan) shows pity towards Griselde. At the beginning of the tale, Walter refuses to get marry until he is forced to by his people who wants him to continue his lineage. Despite her obeying to his every command and wishes, Walter is still not satisfy. This makes him seems like tyrant but Griselde brushes off “all readings of Walter as cruel or unfair, and pursues those of his justice and rightfulness” (Ashe). Chaucer uses these examples to create a melodramatic tone within the tale by showing the readers that regardless of all the difficult challenges that Walter gives to his wife, she remains loyal and tries her hardest to satisfy her husband. Through the use of tone, the readers can see Walter’s cruel nature. He tells Griselde at the beginning that “To all my desires, and that I freely may, As seems best to me, make you laugh or feel pain, And you never grouch about it, at any time?” shows us that Walter is “a monster as a husband” (Morgan). He is laying down the terms of what he wants from this marriage and that is complete control over her. Griselde makes it worse for herself by agreeing to obey him even in her mind, “And here I swear that never willingly, In deed nor thought, will I disobey you…” (Chaucer, line 362-363). This tone shows how easy it is to