LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Chaucer, Clerk’s Tale, Merchant’s Tale, and Franklin’s Tale

We have discussed the themes of sovereignty and "gentilesse" in the Wife of Bath's Tale.  What do the other tales in the Marriage Group have to say about those themes?  How does each tale conceive of sovereignty and "gentilesse"?

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. The Clerk's Tale is told in direct response to the Wife of Bath's Tale.  What kind of response does the Clerk's Tale make to the Wife of Bath's claims about sovereignty and "gentilesse"?  The Clerk's Tale is one place where we really need to keep all the wheels-within-wheels straight.  First, there are the characters in the Clerk's Tale (especially Walter and Griselda); they have certain attitudes and assumptions about sovereignty and "gentilesse."  Then, there's the Clerk, who is telling the tale; he has certain attitudes and assumptions about sovereignty and "gentilesse."  Finally, there is Chaucer, who has created the Clerk and his tale; Chaucer has certain attitudes and assumptions about sovereignty and "gentilesse."  What can we glean from the Clerk's Tale about each of these levels?  How do Walter and Griselda think about sovereignty and "gentilesse"?  What about the Clerk?  Does he agree wholeheartedly with his characters?  Is he at all critical of them?  What is he saying about the Wife of Bath's assertion about who should have sovereignty in marriage?  What is Chaucer saying?  Does the Clerk's Tale remind you of another story we've read this semester?  How does it relate to that other story?
2. The Merchant's Tale is told in direct response to the Clerk's Tale.  Whatever you take the Clerk's Tale to be about, how does the Merchant's Tale respond to it?  What seems to be the Merchant's point about sovereignty and "gentilesse"?  How does his vision of marriage differ from the Wife of Bath's and the Clerk's?  How does the Merchant view the marriage relationship?  What is Chaucer trying to say about the Wife of Bath and the Clerk through the Merchant?  What is he trying to say about the Merchant himself?
3. The Franklin's Tale is seen by some readers as Chaucer's last word on marriage.  Such readers see the Franklin's Tale as suggesting what Chaucer thinks of as the ideal marriage.  Do you agree?  Does the Franklin's Tale present an ideal marriage?  Are Dorigen and Arveragus the perfect married couple?  If you agree, what makes the marriage in the tale so perfect?  How do sovereignty and "gentilesse" operate in the tale?  If you disagree, what is wrong with the picture of marriage in the Franklin's Tale?  Why isn't it the perfect picture?  Isn't the sharing of sovereignty in marriage our twentieth-century ideal?  Is the sharing of sovereignty in the tale flawed in some way?  Is there something else wrong with the characters and their relationships?  The Franklin concludes by asking who in his tale had the most "gentilesse."  Who would you say?  Does the Franklin's Tale remind you of another story we've read this semester?  How does it relate to that other story?

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