How we cite our quotes: (Line Number)
Quote #1
For if it so bifelle, as God forbade,
That thurgh your deeth you lyne sholde slake,
And that a straunge successour sholde take
Youre heritage, O, Wo were us alyve! (136-139)
Walter's nobles have sworn allegiance not just to him but to his entire family, including his ancestors and progeny. If he fails to produce an heir, he'll end his line, and this will create a break in their continuity with the past: they'll be unable to serve the same family their ancestors served.
Quote #2
Unnethe trowed they-but dorste han swore –
That to Janicle, of which I spak bifore,
She doghter were, for, as by conjecture,
Hem thoghte she was another creature. (403-406)
Remember Walter's sentiment that "children ofte been / Unlyk hir worthy eldres hem bifore" (155-156)? That passage has foreshadowed this moment, in which Grisilde is completely unrecognizable as Janicula's daughter as a result of the change she has undergone.
Quote #3
Nat long tyme after that this Grisild
Was wedded, she a doughter hath y-bore.
Al had hire levere have born a knave child,
Glad was this markis and the folk therefore;
For though a mayde child come al bifore,
She may unto a knave child atteyne
By lyklihed, sin she nis nat bareyne. (442-448)
The hard truth is that at this time, a noblewoman's most important function in her marriage was to be a vessel for babies. Her duty was to produce a male child who could be his father's heir (a function a girl could not perform). Walter and the people rejoice more in the proof that Grisilde is not barren (and may yet produce a male) than in the newborn girl herself.
Quote #4
I moot don with thy doghter for the beste,
Nat as I wolde, but as my peple lest. (489-490)
Walter's choice to call his and Grisilde's baby "thy doghter" makes it seem as if he does not even acknowledge the child as his own. This sentiment would be in keeping with his aim of making Grisilde feel like an illegitimate intruder in the palace, someone whose children don't really belong there.
Quote #5
She seyde, 'Lord, al lyth in youre plesaunce;
My child and I with hertely obeisaunce
Ben youres al, and ye mowe save or spille
Youre owene thing: werketh after youre wille.' (501-504)
Grisilde's portrayal of herself and her child as Walter's property is extreme, but it accurately reflects the legal status of women at this time period: they were denied personhood before the law except as "covered" by their husbands.
Quote #6
And mekely she to the sergeant preyed,
So as he was a worthy gentil man,
That she moste kisse hire child er that it deyde;
And in hir barm this litel child she leyde
With ful sad face, and gan the child to blisse
and lulled it, and after gan it kisse. (548-553)
This moment is so gut-wrenchingly dramatic that it convinces us of Grisilde's love for her child. It's necessarily for us to believe in this love so that Grisilde's sacrifice in the name of obedience will appear all the more heroic.
Quote #7
And thus she seyde in hire benigne voys,
'Far weel, my child; I shal thee nevere see.
but, sith I thee have marked with the croys
Of thilke Fader, blessed mot he be,
That for us deyde upon a croys of tree,
Thy soule, litel child, I him bitake,
For this night shaltow dyen for my sake.' (554-560)
Grisilde says that although Walter has rejected his own child, the child will have a "foster-father" in God, whom she refers to as "thilke Fader." She also implicitly compares the baby to Christ, since the child will (she believes) sacrifice its life for another person (Grisilde herself). Is it right for her to allow this to happen? To whom does she owe more loyalty: to Walter, or to her child?
Quote #8
Though that my doghter and my sone be slayn—
At your commandement, this is to sayn,
I have noght had no part of children tweyne
But first siknesse, and after wo and peyne. (649-652)
When Grisilde says that her only claim to ownership of her children comes from the suffering and pain of childbirth, this may be a strategic reminder to Walter that he owns them in every other way. Walter has consistently referred to the children as Grisilde's and Grisilde's only, but he's contradicted himself by claiming the right to decide what their fates will be.
Quote #9
That of a cruel herte he wickedly,
For he a povre womman wedded hadde,
Hat mordred bothe his children prively. (722-725)
The murder of one's own flesh and blood was one of the most heinous sins during this time period: it added to the crime of murder another sin—lack of loyalty to your family. Walter's approval ratings are quick to slide when word of his possible transgression gets out.
Quote #10
But o thing he him preyede outerly,
That he to no wight, though men wolde enquire,
Sholde nat telle whos children that they were. (768-770)
The secrecy surrounding Walter's children is necessary for his test of Grisilde to work, but it could also be symbolic of his refusal to claim them as his own before Grisilde. In effect, these are parentless children.
Quote #11
Ye coude nat doon so dishoneste a thing
That thilke wombe in which youre children leye
Sholde biforn the peple, in my walking,
Be seyn al bare. (876-879)
Why might it be "dishoneste" for Walter to expose the womb that bore his children to the public eye? One possibility might be that this exposure is symbolic of Walter's failure to "cover" his wife before the law, with "coverage" of a woman by a man being a common way of talking about marriage at this time period.
Quote #12
This is thy doghter which thou hast supposed
To be my wyf; that other feithfully
Shal be myn heir; as I have ay disposed,
Thou bare him in thy body trewely.
At Boloigne have I kept hem prively;
Tak hem agayn, for now maystow nat seye
That thou hast lorn noon of thy children tweye. (1065-1071)
Walter's statement of how Grisilde bore his intended heir in her body confirms not only the child's legitimacy and rightful place, but also Grisilde's legitimacy and rightful place. Walter reinstates Grisilde as his wife by affirming her most important function in that position.