'The Clerk's Tale' is the first tale of Group E in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. It is followed by The Merchant's Tale. The Clerk of Oxenford (modern Oxford) is a student of what would nowadays be considered philosophy or theology. He tells the tale of Griselda, a young woman whose husband tests her loyalty in a series of bizarre torments that recall the Biblical book of Job.

Plot

Marquis Walter, of Saluzzo in Italy, acquiesces to his subjects' wish that he take a wife. He selects Griselda, the only daughter of his poorest subject Janicula. On the day of the wedding, he asks for her hand, but requires absolute obedience from her:

And eek whan I sey ye, ne sey nat nay, (and when I say yes, you will not say no)

Neither by word, ne frownyng contenance?

After Griselda bears a daughter, Walter decides to test her loyalty to him. He sends an officer to take the baby, pretending to kill her, and take it in secret to Bologna. Griselda makes no protest at this. When she bears a son several years later, the Marquis again has him taken from her.

Finally, Walter determines one last test. He has a Papal bull of annulment forged which enables him to leave Griselda, and informs her that he intends to remarry. He requires her to prepare the wedding for his new bride. Secretly, he has the children returned from Bologna, and he presents his daughter as his intended wife. Eventually he informs Griselda of the deceit, and (perhaps improbably) they live happily ever after.

Moral

The Clerk is somewhat ambivalent about his tale, and continually criticizes Walter's actions:

But as for me, I seye that yvele it sit (it is an evil thing)

To assaye a wyf, whan that it is no nede,

And putten hir in angwyssh and in drede.

He says the real moral of the tale is to teach endurance, no matter what may happen:

For sith a womman was so pacient

Unto a mortal man, wel moore us oghte

Receyven al in gree (with patience) that God us sent.

He then sings a song in honor of the Wife of Bath, urging wives to stand strong against their husbands.

The Host, however, seems to ignore all these asides, since he responds that he wishes his wife could have heard the tale (presumably to correct her disobedience).

Criticism

Chaucer claims the source of the tale is Petrarch.