Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Outraged, Melodramatic
When the narrator of the "Clerk's Tale" interrupts his narration to provide his point of view—which he does often—he lets us in on his deep outrage at what Walter is putting Grisilde through. When Walter first decides to test his wife, for example, the narrator asks, "What neded it / Hir for to tempte, and alwey moore and moore?" (457-458).
In fact, although some people praise Walter's actions, calling them smart or canny, the narrator flat-out calls them "yvele"—you know, evil (460). He also heaps his outrage on the townspeople when they shift their loyalty from Grisilde to the new young maiden from Bologna: "O stormy peple, unsad and evere untrewe! / [...] / A ful greet fool is he that on yow leeveth!" (995, 1001).
This last outraged outburst, with its flurry of nasty adjectives, verges on melodrama, or exaggerated emotion, just as the tone of the tale itself sometimes verges on it when it focuses on Grisilde's relationship with her children. As the sergeant takes Grisilde's daughter away, for example, the narrator remarks, "Wel myghte a mooder than han cryd allas!" (563). Similarly, when Grisilde reunites with her children, we get: "O, which a pitous thyng it was to se!" (1086).
These asides are meant to arouse deep pity. They play upon the reader's emotions to create a melodramatic tone and feel for the tale.