Investigate the Clerk’s prologue, tale, and envoy. Construct a thesis that focuses on one key way it could
be understood as a response to the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. Explain how the Clerk’s material
connects, contrasts, or resonates with, an important idea in the WofB material. (You are NOT choosing a
character or characters to discuss as the primary contrast (they will be evidence to support the main idea).
You could, for example, examine the nature of power in the Clerk’s Tale, explaining the Clerk’s assessment
as a response to the WofB; consider the nature of love in the Clerk’s Tale and it’s relationship to the WofB’s
assessments and statements; consider the role of ‘abuse’ in both texts and assess ‘to what extent does the
Clerk’s material respond to/’quyte’ the Wof B’s use of ‘abuse’ in her Prologue and Tale?; consider the role
of class in the Clerk’s Tale: how does class help him shape the tale and its meanings? How might that be a
response to the WofB’s statements and uses of class in her material?; etc. Remember you are focusing on the
Clerk’s prologue, tale, envoy, and the way this material can be understood as a response. (Check with me if
you are unsure about either the main idea you choose OR your plan for argument development.) Go beyond
what’s easy to see and immediately observe with plot/character (so you might find key words/terms, imagery,
form, or textual details to assist your assessment). Focus your paper with a thesis that governs all parts of
your discussion. Check that you have a thesis that focuses on just ONE key way the Clerk material can be
understood as a response to the WofB. You might acknowledge other ways very briefly but your paper
should develop just one resonance predominantly. Exploring one dynamic thoroughly will help you develop
an idea rather than brush past several in a general way. Be sure ALL assertions and discussions in your paper
help further ONE thesis
How does The Clerk’s tale and prologue challenge or respond to The Wife of Bath’s Tale and prologue
The paper will make clear how the WofB challenges typical gender roles (for wives!). But in many ways she actually performs the culture’s assumptions about women: that they are hard to control, that they have little self-control, that they gossip, that they lie, that they are weak and can be drawn into sexual relations with others beyond marriage, that they hen-peck their husbands and so on. So be sure to speak fully, acknowledging nuance here. It’s the seeking of power that’s especially transgressive.
Then, I think the paper could explore both Alisoun’s behaviors in marriages and Griselde’s. When you speak of Griselde’s, at some point you’ll have to contend with the difficulty raised in Allen Mitchell’s essay material and with the Clerk-narrator’s statements that her behavior is extreme and not to be followed. You might hear that tone as satiric, though, and feel he’s actually satirizing women who would not submit to husbands…..anyway, be sure to tackle some of the difficult assertions the Clerk makes about Griselde’s submission at the very end of the tale and in the Envoy.
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