Canterbury Tales - Comparing Chaucers The Clerks Tale and The Wife of

In "The Clerk's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale " from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, characters are demanding, powerful and manipulating in order to gain obedience from others. From all of The Canterbury Tales, "The Clerks Tale" and "The Wife of Baths Tale" are the two most similar tales. These tales relate to each other in the terms of obedience and the treatment of women. "The Wife of Bath Tale" consists of one woman who has complete control over her husbands. It evolves the idea that a woman is more powerful and controlling in a relationship. She intimidates her husbands to do things and treat her in a certain ways so that they would buy her material things and favors. "The Clerks Tale" supports almost the opposite idea about women. It mentions that the man has complete power in the relationship and the woman must obey everything that the husband says. Such is the case with Walter and Griselda. Walter is demanding and controlling over Griselda. She does whatever he says and she lacks her own opinion. One difference between these tales however is that "The Clerks Tale" is a very unrealistic story, whereas "The Wife of Baths Tale" is a more practical story and would have the possibility of taking place. Between the two stories, the Wife of Bath and Walter are both characters who are the most demanding in order to gain obedience. Both characters demand love, a sign of obedience to them. Walter tells Griselda that the only way they will marry is if she promises to obey his commands. He says "you love me as I know and would obey, being my leige-man born and faithful to whatever ple... ...and the General Prologue. Ed. V.A. Kolve. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989. ---------"The Wife of Bath's Tale." The Canterbury Tales: Nine Tales and the General Prologue. Ed. V.A. Kolve. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989. Levy, Bernard. "The Meanings of the Clerk's Tale." Chaucer and the Craft of Fiction. Ed. Leigh Arrathoon. Rochester, MI: Solaris, 1986. 385-403. Leicester, Jr., H. Marshall. "Of a fire in the dark: Public and Private Feminism in the Wife of Bath's Tale." Women's Studies 11.1-2 (1985): 157-78. Internet Sources Consulted Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath and Her Tale," The Wife of Bath. Web 30 Apr. 2015. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/7wife.pdf Delahoyde, Michael. "Chaucer: The Clerk's Tale," Chaucer. Web 30 Apr. 2015. http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/chaucer/ClT.html