Canterbury Tales Class Quotes

For thogh they yeve us al hir heritage,
For which we clayme to been of heigh parage,
Yet may they nat biquethe for no thyng
To noon of us hir vertuous lyvyng,
That made hem gentil men ycalled be,
And bad us folwen hem in swich degree.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. In her pillow talk with her husband Knight on the meaning of nobility, the Loathly Lady says that virtuous living cannot be bequeathed. So even though our ancestors give us all their heritage, they cannot pass down to us their virtuous living that made them be called noble men.

Wel kan the wise poete of Florence,
That highte Dant, speken in this sentence.
Lo, in swich maner rym is Dantes tale:
"Ful selde up riseth by his branches smale
Prowesse of man, for God, of his goodnesse,
Wole that of hym we clayme oure gentillesse;"
For of oure eldres may we no thyng clayme
But temporel thyng, that man may hurte and mayme.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight’s wife enlists the help of the great Italian poet Dante in her argument about the nature of nobility. She says that Dante spoke rightly when he said a person’s worth is rarely inherited from his family tree, because God wants us to claim our nobility from him – Dante’s Convivio (The Banquet) Book IV, Canzone: Le dolci rime d’amor ch’ io solìa. From our ancestors we can claim only worldly things that man may hurt and maim, the hag adds.

Eek every wight woot this as wel as I,
If gentillesse were planted natureelly
Unto a certeyn lynage doun the lyne,
Pryvee and apert thanne wolde they nevere fyne
To doon of gentillesse the faire office;
They myghte do no vileynye or vice.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The hag says that if nobility were an inherited quality then those who who received through lineage would show it in private and public life, and be incapable of doing anything bad or dishonorable. This is a direct hit at the Knight and his crime of rape.

Taak fyr and ber it in the derkeste hous
Bitwix this and the mount of Kaukasous,
And lat men shette the dores and go thenne;
Yet wole the fyr as faire lye and brenne
As twenty thousand men myghte it biholde;
His office natureel ay wol it holde,
Up peril of my lyf, til that it dye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The old hag contrasts the so-called noble men to fire as a metaphor to show how a true noble should act. If you light a fire in the darkest house between here and the Caucases Mountains and shut the doors, she says, it will burn as brightly as if 20,000 people were watching it. She is suggesting that some people only do noble deeds when they know others are watching, but were they truly noble they would do these deeds also in private.

Heere may ye se wel how that genterye
Is nat annexed to possessioun,
Sith folk ne doon hir operacioun
Alwey, as dooth the fyr, lo, in his kynde.
For, God it woot, men may wel often fynde
A lordes sone do shame and vileyny.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Nobility is not joined to possessions and wealth, the Loathly Lady says, since folk do not always behave as they should. And sometimes a nobleman’s son can carry out an act of shame of villainy – an obvious swipe at the Knight, who has committed rape.

And he that wole han pris of his gentrye,
For he was boren of a gentil hous
And hadde his eldres noble and vertuous,
And nel hymselven do no gentil dedis
Ne folwen his gentil auncestre that deed is,
He nys nat gentil, be he duc or erl,
For vileyns synful dedes make a cherl.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. A person is not noble who is born into a noble house and doesn’t himself do noble deeds, even if he is a duke or earl. So says the Knight’s hag wife. Villainous sinful deeds make him a churl, a peasant of low status, she adds in an obvious reference to her husband’s crime of rape.

For gentillesse nys but renomee
Of thyne auncestres, for hire heigh bountee,
Which is a strange thyng to thy persone.
Thy gentillesse cometh fro God allone.
Thanne comth oure verray gentillesse of grace;
It was no thyng biquethe us with oure place.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. True gentility or nobility comes from the grace of God alone and is not bequeathed to us with our social rank, the Loathly Lady tells the Knight. It is not just the renown of your ancestors, for their great goodness, for that is something not naturally part of you.

Thenketh hou noble, as seith Valerius,
Was thilke Tullius Hostillius,
That out of poverte roos to heigh noblesse.
Reedeth Senek, and redeth eek Boece;
Ther shul ye seen expres that it no drede is
That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Even the poor person with no wealth can rise to high nobility, says the old woman to her husband. And to bolster her argument the hag invokes the history and writings of the great Romans of the past. She tells him to read Seneca and Boethius and consider how noble, according to Valerius Maximus, was Tullius Hostillius, rising from poverty to great nobility.

Ther shul ye seen expres that it no drede is
That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis.
And therfore, leeve housbonde, I thus conclude:
Al were it that myne auncestres were rude,
Yet may the hye God, and so hope I,
Grante me grace to lyven vertuously.
Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne
To lyven vertuously and weyve synne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Towards the end of a long speech to her husband on their wedding night, the Knight’s wife believes she has proved that, despite her ancestors being rude, she may be called "gentil" or noble. She is noble if the high God grants her the grace to live virtuously and abandon sin, the Loathly Lady tells him.

Now, sire, of elde ye repreve me;
And certes, sire, thogh noon auctoritee
Were in no book, ye gentils of honour
Seyn that men sholde an oold wight doon favour
And clepe hym fader, for youre gentillesse;
And auctours shal I fynden, as I gesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight scorns his wife for being old, and here she reminds him that gentlefolk of honor such as he say that men should be courteous to an old person. She is effectively telling him that he is not noble or a gentleman.

For God it woot, that children ofte been
Unlyk hir worthy eldres hem bifore;
Bountee comth al of God, nat of the streen
Of which they been engendred and ybore.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. We could be listening here to the Loathly Lady in the Wife of Bath’s tale! Walter has the very same thought as her, that all goodness comes from God and not from a person’s lineage by which they are conceived and born. For often children turn out to unlike their worthy parents and ancestors, he says, declining his nobles’ offer to select a high-born wife for him. This comment is ironic, in view of Walter’s cruel treatment of Griselda later in the story.

Noght fer fro thilke paleys honurable,
Wher as this markys shoop his mariage,
There stood a throop, of site delitable,
In which that povre folk of that village
Hadden hir beestes and hir herbergage,
And of hire labour tooke hir sustenance,
After that the erthe yaf hem habundance.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Close to the great palace where the Marquis planned his marriage was a small village full of poor and humble folk, who worked at keeping farm animals and growing crops to survive. The wealthy and the poor are practically next door neighbors.

A doghter hadde he, fair ynogh to sighte,
And Grisildis this yonge mayden highte.
But for to speke of vertuous beautee,
Thanne was she oon the faireste under sonne;
For povreliche yfostred up was she,
No likerous lust was thurgh hire herte yronne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. When it comes to outer and inner beauty and virtue, Janicula’s daughter Griselda is said to be the fairest of all under the sun. Because she was raised in poverty, the Clerk tells the pilgrims, no wanton lust had run through her heart. Does that mean the rich classes are more prone to lust and lechery?

For thogh the peple have no greet insight
In vertu, he considered ful right
Hir bountee, and disposed that he wolde
Wedde hire oonly, if evere he wedde sholde.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. In his tale the Clerk tells the pilgrims that the common people have no great insight into virtue. But Walter the Marquis of Saluzzo obviously has, for when he sees Griselda’s goodness he decides that he will wed only her – if ever he should wed. So is awareness of virtue lost on the commoners, and confined to the nobles?

This markys hath doon make
Of gemmes, set in gold and in asure,
Brooches and rynges, for Grisildis sake;
And of hir clothyng took he the mesure
By a mayde lyk to hire stature,
And eek of othere aornementes alle
That unto swich a weddyng sholde falle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. So what does it take to make a poor girl look like the wife of a marquis? Walter prepares rich garments and gems for Griselda to wear for the wedding. She will swop her poor clothing for jewels set in gold and azure, brooches and rings, and garments that Walter has specially made up for her. Of course Griselda doesn’t even know she is getting married, Walter uses the measurements of a young girl of Griselda’s statute to have her clothes made.

And for that no thyng of hir olde geere
She sholde brynge into his hous, he bad
That wommen sholde dispoillen hire right theere;
Of which thise ladyes were nat right glad
To handle hir clothes, wherinne she was clad.
But nathelees, this mayde bright of hewe
Fro foot to heed they clothed han al newe.
Hir heris han they kembd, that lay untressed
Ful rudely, and with hir fyngres smale
A corone on hire heed they han ydressed,
And sette hire ful of nowches grete and smale.
Of hire array what sholde I make a tale?
Unnethe the peple hir knew for hire fairnesse
Whan she translated was in swich richesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Do clothes make a queen in the Clerk’s Tale? When Griselda is wedded to the Marquis, she loses her glad rags and is clothed in finery. Walter orders that his servents strip her and dress her in the attire he chose for her new position. They comb her unkempt hair, place a crown on her head and set her garments full of jeweled ornaments. The people hardly know her for her beauty when she is translated into such riches, appearing as if she had been born into nobility.

God hath swich favour sent hire of his grace
That it ne semed nat by liklynesse
That she was born and fed in rudenesse,
As in a cote or in an oxe-stalle,
But norissed in an emperoures halle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. With Griselda losing her pauper’s clothes for Walter’s bejeweled and splendid wedding outfit, the Clerk comments that God had sent her such grace she seemed not likely to have been born and fed in a peasant’s hut, but nourished in an emperor’s hall.

With stierne face and with ful trouble cheere,
And seyde thus: "Grisilde," quod he, "that day
That I yow took out of youre povere array,
And putte yow in estaat of heigh noblesse –
Ye have nat that forgeten, as I gesse?

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Looking all stern and troubled, Walter reminds Griselda of the day that he plucked her from poverty and raised her to a position of high nobility. You haven’t forgotten, he asks? – making sure she won’t. There appears to be a "you owe me" coming up next!

And though to me that ye be lief and deere,
Unto my gentils ye be no thyng so.
They seyn, to hem it is greet shame and wo
For to be subgetz and been in servage
To thee, that born art of a smal village.
And namely sith thy doghter was ybore
Thise wordes han they spoken, doutelees.
But I desire, as I have doon bifore,
To lyve my lyf with hem in reste and pees.
I may nat in this caas be recchelees;
I moot doon with thy doghter for the beste,
Nat as I wolde, but as my peple leste.
And yet, God woot, this is ful looth to me.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter lies to Griselda saying that the nobles are not happy with her low birth, especially since the birth of her daughter. Note that he says "thy" daughter and not "our" daughter. The Marquis is falsely suggesting that the nobles want the daughter to be killed and says he doesn’t have much choice in the matter. He has to do what his people desire even though this is hateful to him.

"My lord," quod she, "I woot, and wiste alway,
How that bitwixen youre magnificence
And my poverte no wight kan ne may
Maken comparison; it is no nay.
I ne heeld me nevere digne in no manere
To be youre wyf, no, ne youre chamberere."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Griselda tells Walter that she always knew no one could compare his magnificence with her poverty. She deems herself unworthy to be his chambermaid, let alone his wife. This foreshadows her later role as a palace servant, when Walter aasks her to plan his wedding ceremony.
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