Kevin Gorham

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1992

Thesis Director

Timothy A. Shonk

Abstract

The Clerk of Oxenford in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is often maligned for lacking development as a literary character. Frequently, the Clerk has been dismissed as a stereotype or an ideal rather than a multi-dimensional character. The Clerk's character, much like the meaning of his tale, is concealed from the reader and veiled behind expectations.

Chaucer manipulates readers by exploiting expectations associated with fourteenth century clerks. These expectations derive from historical and literary stereotypes which constitute the General Prologue portrait of the Clerk. Because Chaucer's description of the Clerk is populated with stereotypes, the reader expects the Clerk to tell a tale like those told by clerks in other literature of the time period.

Chaucer creates more individualized expectations in the Wife of Bath's prologue and tale, in which she openly attacks the Clerk, his beliefs, and his order. Later, Harry Bailley ridicules the Clerk's demeanor and places restrictions on the type of tale the Clerk can tell and the manner in which he may tell it. These factors create certain expectations within the reader, expectations which do not diverge from the stereotypes.

In the process of telling his tale, the Clerk provides hints which prepare the reader for the revelation in the envoy. The Clerk's selection and presentation of his tale display his individual personality. He distances himself from confrontation with the Wife by telling a Petrarchan tale, but he dispenses with this distance in telling a personalized envoy. Occasionally, the Clerk intrudes into his tale in order to control the pace and heighten the emotion of the story. The Clerk's use of these techniques provides us a few clues about his character.

He is not the diffident, reserved character that he appeared to be in the General Prologue description. He is a masterful and somewhat flamboyant storyteller, able to function within Harry Bailley's restrictions and accomplish his goals--to redress the Wife of Bath and to convey a philosophical message about human will.

The most dramatic revelation concerning the Clerk's character is reserved for his envoy. The envoy suddenly reveals the Clerk's sarcastic sense of humor. The Clerk's vengeful irony lays waste the Wife's heretical arguments. Chaucer uses the envoy to abruptly unmask the Clerk to the delight of his reader. This unmasking releases the Clerk from the historical and literary stereotypes which surround his character. He emerges as a vital, multi-dimensional literary character.

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