There's a good way to figure out how virtue is defined in the "Clerk's Tale": just look at how Grisilde is described. Grisilde is the bee's knees. She's got a hard-working nature, she rejects luxury and ease, and she reveres and obeys her superiors. So, yeah, virtue.
After Grisilde's marriage to Walter, it's her obedience that takes center stage, pretty much to the point that every other part of her personality is erased. Still sound virtuous? Well, Grisilde's obedience even allows her to consent to infanticide, which raises some interesting questions about whether the tale's version of virtue is really the same as "bountee," or "goodness," a synonym it often uses for virtue.
Another question the tale raises about virtue is whether or not the nobility have a monopoly on it. Our narrator praises Walter very highly for recognizing that virtue can often come "under low degre"—meaning, basically, that poor people can be virtuous, too. This is contrasted with the narrator's frequent condemnation of the common "peple" for their lack of recognition of virtue—and for their fickleness, a totally non-virtuous characteristic in the tale.
Questions About Virtue
- How does the "Clerk's Tale" define virtue? What character traits make a person virtuous?
- How does the tale link virtue to poverty?
- How is virtue related to obedience in the "Clerk's Tale"? How does the tale reveal the way obedience and virtue can be in conflict, or does it reveal this?
Chew on This
Despite the connection the "Clerk's Tale" makes between virtue and poverty, it also implies that the "peple," or commoners, are less likely than the nobility to recognize and properly honor virtue.
The connection in the "Clerk's Tale" between virtue and poverty reveals its viewpoint that those who live a life of idleness and luxury are unlikely to be virtuous.