'The Clerk's Tale' and the Arts of Narrative Manipulation
- Author / Editor
- Johnson, Lynn Staley.
'The Clerk's Tale' and the Arts of Narrative Manipulation
- Published
- Mediaevalia 11 (1989, for 1985): 121-28.
- Description
- The Clerk's "apparently subversive narration" draws the reader away from pathos toward "harder wisdom." ClT is a "gem of narrative irony." The Clerk manipulates reader response by exploiting "techniques of irony" and pointing out inconsistencies in his own tale to provide the reader with two choices: the blindness and bondage of Walter's unstable people or the "knowing freedom" of patient Griselda--responses inspired by the inscrutable Walter.
- In her loving obedience, Griselda maintains a "moral integrity" that places her "beyond the reach of fortune and change." Herein lies the lesson of ClT.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Clerk and His Tale.