I know we all hate Walter,
and I think rightly so. But I wonder if we are supposed to learn from him as we
learn from Grisilde. At the end of the tale we are told by the Clerk that “This
storye is seid, nat for that wives shoulde / Folwen Grisilde as in humilitee, /
for it were inportable…” (1142-44). It was said in class that we are not
supposed to take Grisilde too literally. And here the Clerk lets us know that
we are not supposed to actually use her as a model of behavior. Instead he indicates
what we are supposed to take from this is, “But for every wight, in his degree,
/ Shoulde be constant in adversity” (1145-46). She is an exaggeration of that
particular virtue. We are supposed to take away that idea not the specifics of
her use of it. Walter may fall under a similar category. He seems to get points
from the clerk (and ultamatly the people) for choosing a wife based on virtue not
station. The clerk says “Thus Walter, lowely —nay, but royally— / Wedded with
fourtunat honestetee” (421-422). The Clerk only starts ridiculing him when he
decides to test her.
He
hadde assayed hier inow bifore,
And
fond hier evere good; what neded it
Hir
for to tempte moore and moore
Thogh
som men preise it for a subtle wit?
But
as for me, I seye that ivele it sit (456-460).
According to the gloss, “assaye” is to make trial
of. He has not really put her through any trial yet. He has only observed her
in her daily life. The Clerk seems alright with that; it is further testing
that he questions, “What neded it” and then later condemns “I seye that ivele
it sit.” He says it is not only pointless and unnecessary, it is simply evil. It
would seem that this is a moment similar to when he points out that real women
should not follow Grisilde. Apparently some men have seen a “subtle wit” in
what Walter does, but the Clerk is letting us know that this is just as
excessive (perhaps more so) as what Grisilde does. Maybe what men are supposed to
take away from Walter is that while choosing a wife based on virtue not status
is a good thing, it is not right for them to put that virtue to the test. It is
immoral and, if you have gone into it with both eyes open, totally pointless.
Ok--this is my 3rd time trying to post a comment. If it doesn't come through I'm taking it as a sign.
ReplyDeleteI apologize if I'm repeating stuff I didn't hear in class yesterday. And I apologize for referring to outside sources (in this case blame Prof. MB).
Andrew, your comment about learning from Walter got me thinking. And also lately I've been wondering about the reliability of narrators and the pilgrims that interpret the tales (Chaucer as narrator, The Host). Like when on line 80, p.296, The Clerk says Walter has a little problem with impulse control.
I started thinking about MEASURE FOR MEASURE by Shakespeare. For those of you who haven't read it recently for a Prof. MB class: A Duke decides to go into hiding to test a man named Angelo. By all appearances Angelo is a truly good man. The Duke puts Angelo into power, "disappears", and Angelo proves that power corrupts. I think Walter has some of that too. Each time he torments Griselda he wants even more of that feeling of power over her (OK, I'm interpreting, he wants to find new worse ways to "test" her.).
In the end of MEASURE FOR MEASURE the Duke reappears, puts everything to rights, and everyone lives happily ever after. Walter too brings back the children and puts everything to rights, so to speak.
However, through the course of MEASURE FOR MEASURE, you start wondering if the Duke is a slime. He tells the priest at the beginning is that one reason he is doing this is that some unpopular laws need to be made and this way, everyone will hate Angelo instead of him. One assumes he'll back off on the laws a little, get what he really wants, and still look like he's wonderful compared to Angelo. He also maneuvers things so he gets to marry a woman who only wanted to be a nun. I think about Walter and Griselda. According to The Clerk, all his people loved Walter, the all loved Griselda, they felt like Walter was being unfair to Griselda but no one spoke up, then they switched to supporting the new future wife. I think if I was one of Walter's people, I'd be pretty scared of him. Here's Griselda, arguably the best person around, and here is how Walter treats her. If he treats her that way, how is he going to treat me, who am not so good? I wouldn't want to do anything to catch his attention. Especially if I was one of the poorer people.
Andrew, I couldn't help but think the same way about Walter. I will say I thought he was a jerk, and there were a few moment where I felt that it would have been better if Grisilde punched him in the face (though i understand that would have not been to virtuous :)), but his behavior seemed too extreme to me. It was obvious in the class discussion that we the majority of us felt her virtue was in excess, but it was also clear that no one really liked Walter, but if we are noticing the flaws in her virtue, should we see the flaws in Walter's Flaws are too. I think you are right in think that there is a lesson in regards Walter as well being not to continually and increasingly test virtues.
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