Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

English

Date of Award

5-2003

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Mark DiCicco

Committee Members

Isabel B. Stanley, Jeffrey Powers-Beck

Abstract

Few of Chaucer’s works provoke such animosity as does his “Clerk’s Tale.” Modern critics are divided by the social and gender issues that to which the tale lends itself. However, the tale was immensely popular to Middle Age audiences and was one of the best loved of the Canterbury Tales. Therefore, to dismiss this tale’s literary values outright, as some critics have done, is a mistake. By examining the history of the Griselda story, Chaucer’s use of his source materials, and the tales placement within the Canterbury Tales, this thesis is an attempt to examine the tale in more culturally, religiously, and historically appropriate way.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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