The Clerk's Tale is an indirect response to the Wife of Bath who
             stated that women desire complete sovereignty over their
             husbands and lovers. The Clerk puts forth a diametrically
             opposite view and draws the sketch of a totally submissive
             Chaucer's source for the Clerk's tale is Petrarch's 'Fable of
             Obedience and Wifely Faith' written in Latin that was in turn
             derived from Boccaccio's 'Decameron'. Chaucer closely follows
             Petrarch's text. Chaucer makes the Clerk candidly acknowledge
             that his tale is derived from "Frauncey's Petrak".
             The Clerk's Tale is suited to his character as a serious student.
             His tale too has a scholarly theme and deals with the issue of
             genuine obedience and loyalty in a wife. Griselda's story upholds
             faith in goodness even in times of adversity. It is definitely a
             moral tale and the Clerk relates it with all seriousness and
             The Host's warning to the Clerk to keep his language simple and
             to tell an entertaining and adventurous tale were not needed. The
             tale proves that the Clerk was not an ossified academic. However
             the Clerk does not relate an adventurous tale and does make use
             of rhetoric and figures of speech. When the Clerk concludes his
             tale the Host commends him for relating his story in a sweet and
             Chaucer has invested, the folk tale Petrarchan version of the
             patient Griselda's story, with an amazing degree of realism.
             Griselda comes across as a real life human character. Her
             sincerity to her husband and affection for her children seem
             realistic. Her pathos is heart rending and earns the reader's
             Griselda's story of long suffering may be unappealing to modern
             readers. But it is important to interpret the tale in the context of
             the fourteenth century. Griselda was simply acting in accordance
             ...