Rewriting Griselda : From Folktale to Exemplum

Author / Editor
Filios, Denise Keyes.

Title
Rewriting Griselda : From Folktale to Exemplum

Published
Mediaevalia 24 (2003): 45-73

Description
Filios compares the folktale of Griselda with four medieval versions, exploring their adaptations. Boccaccio's tale is eroticized, with the teller Dioneo disagreeing with the conventional happy ending that reinforces dangerous power relations; Petrarch valorizes both Griselda and her husband, reinforcing dominant power structures; ClT ironically celebrates unruly wives; and Christine de Pisan's version is a feminist reappropriation in which Griselda's strength leads to her husband's reform.

Chaucer Subjects
Clerk and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.