Canterbury Tales Loyalty Quotes

A markys whilom lord was of that lond,
As were his worthy eldres hym bifore;
And obeisant, ay redy to his hond,
Were alle his liges, bothe lasse and moore.
Thus in delit he lyveth, and hath doon yoore,
Biloved and drad, thurgh favour of Fortune,
Bothe of his lordes and of his commune.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. We are introduced to Walter, Marquis of Saluzzo in Italy, who is both loved and feared by his lords and the common people over whom he rules. His loyal subjects of all ranks are ready to do what he commands.

For if it so bifelle, as God forbede,
That thurgh youre deeth youre lyne sholde slake,
And that a straunge successour sholde take
Youre heritage, O wo were us alyve!
Wherfore we pray you hastily to wyve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Urging Walter to marry quickly, his nobles warn of the woe that will befall them if through his death his line should die out and a foreign successor take over. Having served Walter’s family loyally down the years, they believe such an event would be a disaster.

Lat me allone in chesynge of my wyf –
That charge upon my bak I wole endure.
But I yow preye, and charge upon youre lyf,
What wyf that I take, ye me assure
To worshipe hire, whil that hir lyf may dure,
In word and werk, bothe heere and everywheere,
As she an emperoures doghter weere.
And forthermoore, this shal ye swere: that ye
Agayn my choys shul neither grucche ne stryve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. While Walter agrees to his noblemen’s request that he get married, he declines their offer to select him a wife and insists that they accept his choice of wife. He demands that they take an oath to worship her in word and deed as if she were an emperor’s daughter, and never to grouch or strive against his choice. In this we see the power that had been with the nobles, transfer back to Walter.

Thou lovest me, I woot it wel certeyn,
And art my feithful lige man ybore,
And al that liketh me, I dar wel seyn
It liketh thee, and specially therfore
Tel me that poynt that I have seyd bifore,
If that thou wolt unto that purpos drawe,
To take me as for thy sone-in-lawe.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter likes to flex his marquis muscles when it comes to demanding complete loyalty and obedience from his subjects. He gives Griselda’s father an offer he can’t refuse. I know for certain that you love me and are my faithful liege, he tells him, and all that pleases me it pleases you. So will you take me for your son-in-law, Walter asks? Now how can poor Janicula refuse? This is forecasting of how Walter will later treat Griselda, expecting her to submit totally to his will in a series of brutal trials of her loyalty.

I seye this: be ye redy with good herte
To al my lust, and that I frely may,
As me best thynketh, do yow laughe or smerte,
And nevere ye to grucche it, nyght ne day?
And eek whan I sey ye, ne sey nat nay,
Neither by word ne frownyng contenance?
Swere this, and heere I swere oure alliance.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. The unromantic and controlling Walter spells out to Griselda the terms of his marriage to her. He demands that she swear to do whatever he asks of her without complaint, to nor even frown, and never to say "no" when he says "yes." A bit of a one-sided marriage contract for him demanding complete obedience and loyalty, but what does the woman get?

Wondrynge upon this word, quakynge for drede,
She seyde, "Lord, undigne and unworthy
Am I to thilke honour that ye me beede,
But as ye wole youreself, right so wol I.
And heere I swere that nevere willyngly,
In werk ne thoght, I nyl yow disobeye,
For to be deed, though me were looth to deye."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Is this the rock Griselda will perish on? Trembling with fear and devaluing herself by saying she is unworthy and unsuitable for the honor, Griselda promises to marry Walter. And she goes on to swear an oath of unquestionedd obedience to him, saying she will never disobey him in deed or thought. Well that’s loyalty in the extreme.

Ther may no thyng, God so my soule save,
Liken to yow that may displese me;
Ne I desire no thyng for to have,
Ne drede for to leese, save oonly yee.
This wyl is in myn herte, and ay shal be.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Your will is my will, Griselda tells Walter as she offers her total submission to him when he tests her obedience by announcing that he plans to kill her daughter. She assures him that he is all that she wants. This is is a case of loyalty to your husband gone crazy!

"Madame," he seyde, "ye moote foryeve it me,
Though I do thyng to which I am constreyned.
Ye been so wys that ful wel knowe ye
That lordes heestes mowe nat been yfeyned;
They mowe wel been biwailled or compleyned,
But men moote nede unto hire lust obeye,
And so wol I; ther is namoore to seye.
This child I am comanded for to take"

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. The Sergeant sent by Walter to take away Griselda’s child, apparently to put her to death, has arrived. He makes it clear that his lord’s commands must be obeyed and not be evaded. His "I’m only following orders" excuse for his part in the heinous crime of infanticide is the defense used by the top Nazis at the Nuremberg trials.

I wol no thyng, ne nyl no thyng, certayn,
But as yow list. Naught greveth me at al,
Though that my doughter and my sone be slayn –
At youre comandement, this is to sayn.
I have noght had no part of children tweyne
But first siknesse, and after, wo and peyne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Griselda continues to show extreme obedience and submissiveness when husband Walter tests her loyalty again by proposing that their second child, a son, be put to death. The sound of silence from a mother who fails to protest the murder of her children by an authoritarian father is inexplicable. It demonstrates a flaw in Griselda’s otherwise virtuous nature and goodness, we believe. For isn’t the courage to fight for the life of your child a virtue, which she seems to lack? Submitting to Walter’s cruel and frankly evil will yet again, she says she will have nothing but what he desires. Her husband’s total sovereignty over her life and that of her children is clear when she says she has had no part of her children except the pain of childbirth.

"Ye been oure lord; dooth with youre owene thyng
Right as yow list; axeth no reed at me.
For as I lefte at hoom al my clothyng,
Whan I first cam to yow, right so," quod she,
"Lefte I my wyl and al my libertee,
And took youre clothyng; wherfore I yow preye,
Dooth youre plesaunce; I wol youre lust obeye."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Griselda’s clothing here symbolizes her will and her liberty. Declaring her total submission to Walter’s will and desires, she tells him that when she married him she left at home her old clothing and took on his clothing. Her loyalty to husband knows no bounds, it seems, even if it means the cost of her children’s lives.

For which it semed thus: that of hem two
Ther nas but o wyl, for as Walter leste,
The same lust was hire plesance also.
And, God be thanked, al fil for the beste.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter seems satisfied beyond any doubt that there is but one will between him and Griselda, and his desire is her pleasure also. God be thanked, he says, foreshadowing the eventual happy ending to the story. So are things going to take a turn for the better for Griselda, now that she has proven her loyalty?

But now knowe I in verray soothfastnesse
That in greet lordshipe, if I wel avyse,
Ther is greet servitute in sondry wyse.
I may nat doon as every plowman may.
My peple me constreyneth for to take
Another wyf, and crien day by day;
And eek the pope, rancour for to slake,
Consenteth it.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter claims that he is being constrained by his people, who complain every day, to take another wife. He is arguing that has a certain loyalty and duty to them. He also tells Griselda of the Papal Bull, which he had forged, declaring him free of her and giving him permission to marry another woman.

O stormy peple! Unsad and evere untrewe!
Ay undiscreet and chaungynge as a fane!
Delitynge evere in rumbul that is newe,
For lyk the moone ay wexe ye and wane!
Ay ful of clappyng, deere ynogh a jane!
Youre doom is fals, youre constance yvele preeveth;
A ful greet fool is he that on yow leeveth.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. The Clerk is angry and critical of the local people for switching their loyalties from Griselda to her younger replacement. He labels them false, delighting in rumors, their constancy proving evil. And he uses a number of similes to describe them as changing like a weather vane, and like the moon ever waxing and waning.

O thyng biseke I yow, and warne also,
That ye ne prikke with no tormentynge
This tendre mayden, as ye han doon mo;
For she is fostred in hire norissynge
Moore tendrely, and, to my supposynge,
She koude nat adversitee endure
As koude a povre fostred creature.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Griselda shows her true devotion to Walter with her sympathetic and gracious comments about his new young bride. Do not distress with any tormenting this tender maiden, as you have done to others, she pleads. For she is reared more tenderly and could not ensure adversity like a poorly reared creature, she adds. It is these comments on his richly-dressed and aristocratic bride that wins Walter over to end his testing of Griselda.

And whan this Walter saugh hire pacience,
Hir glade chiere, and no malice at al,
And he so ofte had doon to hire offence,
And she ay sad and constant as a wal,
Continuynge evere hire innocence overal,
This sturdy markys gan his herte dresse
To rewen upon hire wyfly stedfastnesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Job was only a novice in the patience department, compared to Griselda. When Walter sees her patience, steadfastness, innocence and lack of malice, in the face of all the offence he had done to her, the stern Marquis’s heart feels pity towards her.

"I have thy feith and thy benyngnytee,
As wel as evere womman was, assayed,
In greet estaat and povreliche arrayed.
Now knowe I, dere wyf, thy stedfastnesse" –
And hire in armes took and gan hire kesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter confesses to Griselda about the tests he put her through of her faith, goodness and steadfastness, both in high rank and in poverty. He now knows how steadfast she is, he reveals, and takes her in her arms and kisses her. Is there a glimmer of real love there for somebody else from this selfish and self-centered man?

I have doon this deede
For no malice, ne for no crueltee,
But for t’assaye in thee thy wommanheede,
And nat to sleen my children – God forbeede! –
But for to kepe hem pryvely and stille,
Til I thy purpos knewe and al thy wille.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. OK why did you do it Walter – put your wife through unimaginable hell and stress with your stupid loyalty tests? Walter’s defense is that he didn’t do it for malice or cruelty, but to test her womanhood, her purpose and all her will. Which really doesn’t make being cruel, behaving like an a-hole and making her believe her children had been slain, all right.

She seyde, "Sire, sith of youre gentillesse
Ye profre me to have so large a reyne,
Ne wolde nevere God bitwixe us tweyne,
As in my gilt, were outher werre or stryf.
Sire, I wol be youre humble trewe wyf –
Have heer my trouthe – til that myn herte breste."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Franklin’s Tale. Dorigen pledges to be a humble and true wife to Arveragus until the day that she dies. And she hopes to God that there will never come between them, through her fault, any war or strife. She praises him for his nobility in offering her such freedom from restraint in their marriage.
    • 1
    • 2
Close