The Canterbury Tales: The Clerk's Tale Marriage Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line Number)

Quote #10

O needles was she tempted in assay!
But wedded men ne knowe no mesure
Whan that they finde a pacient creature. (621-623)

Although the narrator won't explicitly say so until later, it already seems like he might be advising real women not to imitate Grisilde. If they do, they may be subject to the whims of a man who knows no "mesure," or moderation, in what he asks of her.

Quote #11

A wyf, as of hirself, no thing ne sholde
Wille in effect but as hir housbond wolde. (720-721)

Here's a concise expression of one of two totally contradictory viewpoints expressed by the narrator: 1) that wives should obey their husbands in everything, or 2) that they shouldn't.

Quote #12

For sith I yaf to yow my maydenhede,
And am youre trewe wyf, it is no drede,
God shilde swich a lordes wyf to take
Another man to housbonde or to make. (837-840)

Grisilde thinks that she shouldn't marry again after Walter kicks her out of the palace. (This is a view the Wife of Bath tried to refute in her Prologue.) The idea that a wife should not marry again after the death of her first husband was a commonly held one, coming in part from the church's prohibition of sex for any other purpose but procreation. The idea was that once a woman had borne a few children, she had no need for sex anymore.