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Critical analysis of clerk tale
The clerk's tale summary
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In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Clerk's Tale," from The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes a "perfect wife." This wife, Griselda, is totally submissive to her husband, and seems to have no regrets or remorse for anything he makes her do. Griselda's husband, Walter, puts her through many trials in order to test her dedication and loyalty to him. He takes away both of their children, telling her that he is going to have them killed. He then tells her that he is divorcing her and taking another bride. After this, he forces her to prepare the new bride for him. Through all of this, Griselda loves Walter without fail, meets his demands without any word of disapproval, and remains faithful.
This causes the reader to ask many questions. What kind of a mother is a woman who would allow her children to be killed without any opposition from her? Is she weak for allowing her husband to do this to her? Is Griselda really a wonderful, patient woman, or is she cold and heartless? Griselda is the paragon of an archetypal virtuous woman (as conceived by patriarchy), submissive and silent. Of course, one can not view Griselda as a totally real person, because, theoretically, no real person would allow herself to be treated in this way, no matter how the belief is that a woman should act. She only makes sense when the reader views her as a representative of a particular biblical tradition: the suffering servant. Most readers of "The Clerk's Tale," especially women, view her as a bad mother and person. However, when compared to some of the characters of the bible, the reader is able to find some sympathy for her.
Walter is the head of the land, and he is being pressured to find a bride. He decides on Gr...
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... The Clerk is urging the reader to think about the fact that if this human woman can show so much patience to another human, why can the reader not have this patience with the trials that God sends people in their lives. God gives no one a trial that they are unable to overcome. When the Clerk's Tale is viewed from this angle, Griselda becomes a model that all humans should strive to imitate.
Works Cited:
1.) Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Clerk's Tale," The Canterbury Tales. Translated by Nevill Coghill. London: Penguin Group, 1951. 320-356.
2.) http://panther.bsc.edu/~shagen/gresgend.htm
3.) Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Clerk's Tale," The Riverside Chaucer. Gen. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. 137-153.
4.) The Harper Collins Study Bible. Gen. Ed. Wayne A. Meeks. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Canterbury Tales Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of The Pardoner's Tale | GradeSaver." Study Guides & Essay Editing | GradeSaver. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2011. .
Mandell, Jerome. Geoffrey Chaucer : building the fragments of the Canterbury tales. N.J. : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1992.
Grendel's mother, unknown to the Danes or Geats, is plotting to avenge the death of her son. After the celebrations are over in Heorot and everybody is asleep, Grendel's mother appears out of her dwelling place, the swamp.
Despite her evil actions, it is evident that there is less malice in her than Grendel and she is less of a symbol of pure evil than he is. For example, her attack on Heorot is somewhat appropriate and could be considered honorable by the standards of warrior culture, as it marks an attempt to avenge one’s son’s death. In fact, the motive for her attack is similar to Beowulf’s motive for his attack on her: avenging the death of a loved one. One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s attachment to this vengeance-demanding code that the warriors follow is that she is depicted as not entirely alien or monstrous. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parental figure is his mother rather
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed Mack, Maynard et al. W. W. Norton and Co. New York, NY. 1992.
The structure Geoffrey Chaucer chose for his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, of utilizing a melange of narrative voices to tell separate tales allows him to explore and comment on subjects in a multitude of ways. Because of this structure of separate tales, the reader must regard as extremely significant when tales structurally overlap, for while the reader may find it difficult to render an accurate interpretation through one tale, comparing tales enables him to lessen the ambiguity of Chaucer’s meaning. The Clerk’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale both take on the institution of marriage, but comment on it in entirely different manner, but both contain an indictment of patriarchal narcissism and conceit.
Acid rain has been proven to have damage forests, fresh waters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms. It also causes damage to buildings and impacts on human health. Many people do not know what acid rain actually is. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, low pH levels, higher than normal amounts of sulfuric and nitric acid, occurs naturally and from man made sources. Forms when gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals (what is acid rain?). The only water that will not have some amount of acidity is pure water. Pure water has a pH of 7 which is neutral; regular, unpolluted rain water has a pH of around 5.6. The acidity in rain water comes from the presence of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxide, and Sulfur Dioxide. CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Nitrogen and water react during lightning storms, forming Nitric Oxide. NO is then oxidized to form N02. The NO2 reacts with water to form nitric acid. Due to this, the pH is lowered to be slightly acidic (Acid Rain). Acid rain can occur naturally in the environment, but the problem occurs when human interaction is the cause of the acidic levels.
“The Clerk’s Tale.” The Canterbury Tales. New York: Viking, 2009. . Web. Jan & Feb. 2012.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Pardoner's Tale." Chaucer's Works. Ed. Walter W. Skeat. Vol. 4. London: U of Oxford, 2007. N. pag. Web. 24 Apr. 2014
In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer creates a wonderfully complex character in the Wife of Bath. She exhibits many traits easily identifiable as virtuous--honesty, cheerfulness, and the desire to follow the teachings of the Bible. At other times she reveals traits easily perceived as negative--greed, cruelty, and promiscuity. By the end of her tale to the other pilgrims, more light is shed on her character when it becomes apparent that her tale parallels certain aspects of her own life. Understanding the Wife of Bath’s motivations for her actions through the tale provides an explanation, and, from a sympathetic point of view, an excuse for her negative behavior. Through the voice of the old hag giving the knight two choices, the Wife of Bath highlights an issue that has been central to the formation of her own moral character. She strongly believes that God gave her the freedom of choice, and she is taking that freedom to make decisions in her own best interest. Her decisions and resulting behavior, although morally questionable, are the result of her attempts to rise above her station in life.
Mitchell, J. Allan. (2005). Chaucer's Clerk's Tale and the Question of Ethical Monstrosity. Studies in Philology. Chapel Hill: Winter 2005. Vol.102, Iss. 1; pg. 1, 26 pgs
...rought attention to the racial issues in death penalty sentencing which will be explained by relevant data on the subject.
Hieatt, A. Kent, and Constance Hieatt. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. New York: Bantam Books, 1964.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
fact how we behave and what we feel is only the tip of the iceberg. I