Griselda Back As His Loving Wife example essay topic

Throughout Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the marriages in the stories are as different and as intertwined as the pilgrims themselves who told of these tales. The diversity amongst the marriages was well illustrated by the following tales, The Wife of Bath, Alisoun's departure from the standard beliefs, whose principle was that the wife should rule the husband for a happy marriage. The Clerk, Walter, showed the accepted and traditional view of the husband as the master over the wife. The Merchant as depicted by January showed personal bitterness towards women and in the Franklin's Tale, Arveragus and D origen idealized mutual love and honor between husband and wife. The Wife of Bath. "Of husbands at church door have I had five" (311), "welcome the sixth whenever come he shall" (312).

Alisoun was thought to be a loose woman, almost trampish but her feelings were so, "I am free to wed, in God's name, where it pleases me" (312). She had three good husbands, all of which were old and rich who treated her well and she picked them clean, her other two husbands were bad. Her fourth husband had a mistress so Alisoun pretended to be unfaithful as well, an sent him to his grave. "But certainly I showed so gay a soul that in his own thick grease I made him fry for anger and for utter jealousy.

By God, on earth I was his purgatory" (324). The fifth husband though she loved him the best was the one that beat her. After striking her for tearing out a page in his cursed book, seeing how she lay so helpless he said, "O my dear sister Alison, so help me God, I'll never strike you more" (332). "My own true wedded wife, do as you please the term of all your life, guard your own honor and keep fair my state after that day we never had debate" (332).

Alisoun believed that the woman should be the master of the relationship, "Who shall be both my debtor and my thrall and have his tribulations therewithal Upon his flesh, the while I am his wife, I have the power during all my life over his own good body, and not he" (315). Me skel 2 The Clerk. The Noble Walter enjoyed his freedom as a bachelor, but his people implored him to wed and beget an heir. He agreed as long as the choice of a wife was entirely his.

He choose Griselda the daughter of Jani cula a poor farmer. Before he takes Griselda for his wife, he says to her, "I say this: Are you ready with good heart to grant my wish, and that I freely may, As I shall think best, make you laugh or smart, and you to grumble never, night or day? And too, when I say "yea" you say not "nay" By word or frown to what I have designed. Swear this, and here I will our contract bind" (384). Griselda responded, "My lord, unsuited, unworthy Am I to take the honor you give me here; But what you'd have, that very thing would I. And here I swear that never willingly, In deed or thought, will I you disobey, To save my life, and I love life, I say" (384). Two years into the marriage Griselda bears a daughter.

To test her obedience towards Walter he sends a servant to take away the baby presumably to her young death. Griselda accepts this without any kind of confrontation. Several years later she bears a son, again her baby is taken away and again Griselda accepts this type of manipulation from Walter. Eventually Walter sends Griselda away telling her he is to wed a new, younger bride that he has already sent for. In reality he is really sending for his two children who are now 12 and 8. Griselda leaves without dispute to go back to live with her Father, but Walter asks Griselda to stay and ready the castle for the wedding, as no one else knows his likes and dislikes as she does and she does so obligingly.

When she has accomplished all that has been asked of her and she is on her way back to her Father, Walter tells her that she has passed his "tests" and tells her that the two children are hers that were taken away as babies. Walter than takes Griselda back as his loving wife, and of course she takes him into open arms.