「학자의 이야기」에 나타난 아이러니
The Clerk’s Ironic Storytelling in The Clerk’s Tale
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The Clerk’s Tale has proved Chaucer's least tractable tale for modern readers. Throughout the Clerk’s Tale, meaning and intention are the problems. Themodified reading of the Clerk’s Tale presented in this paper turns the chiefemphasis from the question of religious allegory or sovereignty in marriage tothe larger question of the irony and paradox through an exploration of thecharacter of the Clerk. Since nothing in the General Prologue or later indicatesthat the Clerk is other than devout and intelligent, one must re-examine his taleto see whether this sober and unworldly figure is, in fact, subtler than hisfellows and the critics have recognized. There is a good deal of self-revelationof the Clerk in Griselda's story. The Clerk is a complicated figure of uttersubmissiveness and essential silence like Griselda, and he disguises himself, hismotives, and aggressive humour cleverly. Among the Canterbury pilgrims, the highly educated Clerk is the one whocan use irony and paradox such as the principle of “loser wins” subtly. Withthe tale, the Clerk challenges an audience as Griselda’s impassive patiencechallenges Walter. The Clerk, with his rationalist bent, builds our criticalresistance into Griselda’s story, and even encourages it. The fact that thepurpose of this tale is to inspire critical response shows the potentialsubversiveness of the Clerk’s Tale. It could be viewed as a poem about either awoman’s subversive or her silenced subversion. The Clerk’s version of theGriselda story seems to entail a revelation of the male speaker’s anxiety abouthis manliness, his status and identity. This quiet and ascetic figure is oftenregarded by modern critics as an ideal portrayal of the selfless man of learning. His tale and Envoy, in fact, clearly suggest that this Clerk has his own irony. It is no wonder that the Clerk makes an ironic judgement on all establishedauthorities.
Abstract
The Clerk’s Tale has proved Chaucer's least tractable tale for modern readers. Throughout the Clerk’s Tale, meaning and intention are the problems. Themodified reading of the Clerk’s Tale presented in this paper turns the chiefemphasis from the question of religious allegory or sovereignty in marriage tothe larger question of the irony and paradox through an exploration of thecharacter of the Clerk. Since nothing in the General Prologue or later indicatesthat the Clerk is other than devout and intelligent, one must re-examine his taleto see whether this sober and unworldly figure is, in fact, subtler than hisfellows and the critics have recognized. There is a good deal of self-revelationof the Clerk in Griselda's story. The Clerk is a complicated figure of uttersubmissiveness and essential silence like Griselda, and he disguises himself, hismotives, and aggressive humour cleverly. Among the Canterbury pilgrims, the highly educated Clerk is the one whocan use irony and paradox such as the principle of “loser wins” subtly. Withthe tale, the Clerk challenges an audience as Griselda’s impassive patiencechallenges Walter. The Clerk, with his rationalist bent, builds our criticalresistance into Griselda’s story, and even encourages it. The fact that thepurpose of this tale is to inspire critical response shows the potentialsubversiveness of the Clerk’s Tale. It could be viewed as a poem about either awoman’s subversive or her silenced subversion. The Clerk’s version of theGriselda story seems to entail a revelation of the male speaker’s anxiety abouthis manliness, his status and identity. This quiet and ascetic figure is oftenregarded by modern critics as an ideal portrayal of the selfless man of learning. His tale and Envoy, in fact, clearly suggest that this Clerk has his own irony. It is no wonder that the Clerk makes an ironic judgement on all establishedauthorities.
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