Many modern literary critics cannot, or wish not to see, any merit in this story. Mostly, they get all up in arms about Griselda's blind obedience to Walter.
Is this frustration founded?
These tales are fictional and many allegorical. What is the allegory here?
Is this truly a story about unconditional love or a story about what unconditional love looks like?
Are we, as people, incapable of unconditional love?
Happy Thinking,
Mr. B
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Well, Mr. Bruno, I do not believe we are incapable of unconditional love, only prone to rejecting anything but self-love. Love, by definition is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, place, feeling, or thing. For love to be unconditional, it must first be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrolable, unbearable, and strangely easy to mistake for loathing. Rarely is love identifiable as "unconditional", because we as humans are by nature incredibly selfish. But with love, we allow ourselves to understand care and devotion, requiring no gifts or demonstrations of love. We accept the fact we are able to offer our hearts to another, and in doing so, we are wholly, without a doubt, unconditional in our love.
ReplyDeleteAs people find, modern writers normally think of what they would do in a character's situation. This would be reason enough to stir up frustration from people of today. What a woman of today would more than likely do, in Griselda's situation, would rebel in some form. The lack of reaction definitely makes one think.
ReplyDeleteThe Allegory of this tale might be that of unconditional love. Or a representation of how people should view unconditional love.
Personally I think that it is an interpretation of what it should look like, because love is shown in many ways, not just servitude. People are not incapable of unconditional love. Again, it is how one interprets what love is. Is love public? Does one have to show their feelings whenever they see each other? Is love like breathing? It's easy to do and one doesn't even have to think about it. Is it suffering? Is it servitude, or equality? When one truly knows what love is, then they will know what unconditional love is.
Griselda is a very strong woman to sucum to her husband the way she did. He was, however, way to controlling and the joke was unfair, and selfish. I think that he should have just realized how lucky he was to have her and trusted her to stand by him, as expected in a relationship. I don't know how she returned to him when he confessed that it all was a test, in which she had passed. As a girl, I don't understand how she forgave him so quickly. Women shouldn't be treated like that.
ReplyDeleteAh Griselda!!!! Her beauty, patience and unfailing love was, of course, frustrating because she was willing to give up everything dearest to her for her husband; imagine is he told her he was killing her father (she probably would have consented). Or would she? I don't believe she was blind to her love, I believe she had faith; that she knew the man she loved was truely pure and in the very far back of her mind she not only hoped this was true but knew it was. Her ability to love Walter so boldly and strongly was due to her ability to believe in the best and only the best of people. THAT is the quality people lack, and therefore the explanation to why people can't unconditionally love their lovers, spouses etc but why they can unconditionally love their children. In most cases, no matter what a child does, bad or good, most parents love that child regardless; they could comit murder, and the parent still loves them. Why? Because they have faith in the child's pureness, in the child's goodness. That is the faith Griselda had for not only her children, but also her husband. This faith, while admirable, can be a horrible thing though, because some people really DO NOT deserve such faith. But what is better, faith, or being skeptical about everything and everyone? I don't know, but I'd prefer to be the former.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating discussion thread. Tovar, your comments are right on the mark. Griselda had faith because this tale is an allegory for how we should be, in medieval theology, in our relationship with God.
ReplyDeleteLuke, I am not sure that this rather Emersonian view would have worked in the middle ages. Also, consider if there are any examples you can think of in your life of people who act with no other motivation than love - even to their own detriment.
Keep up the good work guys.
I don't think this is a story about unconditional love, if he really would have loved her, than he would have trusted her to trust him.
ReplyDeleteGriselda trusted him throughout the whole story to make the right decisions and yet he continued to test her trust in him.
I don't think there is such a thing as unconditional love. you'll always come to a point where you do something that makes it seem that you don't love someone, because deep inside of you, everybody always wants what is best for them and not somebody else.
I think everyone that reads this story gets a little frustrated at Griselda’s unwavering obedience to Walter, because people in our day and age just cannot fathom a women being that obedient to her husband. That is why I think the frustration among modern literary critics takes its base; mainly just because we cannot see anything like this story every occurring and we think Griselda is stupid for staying with her husband after what he does. In any case, I think that this story is about both unconditional love and what it looks like. As Ashley said, the qualities Griselda possessed regarding obedience and trust are what we lack, and this tale shows us that this is truly unconditional love at its finest. So because it is showing us what unconditional love looks like, it is also kind of a tale about a women’s unconditional love for her husband, despite what he asks of her. Finally, I think people are still capable of some form of unconditional love to an extent. I think nobody could ever have the patience or trust that Griselda had, but people can still be quite trusting toward the one they love and will still do a great deal for them.
ReplyDeleteFrom the moment one falls in love with his or her partner, it is difficult to discontinue expressing this emotion. I believe love declares the ability to trust. Therefore, despite hardships that occur in a relationship, it is not easy for an individual to see the error of another's ways. Similarly, Griselda stays with her husband because the emotions she feels toward him overshadow her ability to view his negative traits.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe we are incapable of unconditional love. Many individuals will continue to express the emotion although their counterpart has acted in an irresponsible manner. This is so because one may revert back to the beginning of a relationship during which circumstances were better rather than consider the difficult situation of the present.
We are not incapable of unconditional love. It all depends on the person and the situation. Our society now a days say "I love you", but they don't really mean love love, just an "I like you" expression. Everybody loves someone and I think Ashley's example of parents was a great one.
ReplyDeleteWalter is a jerk. I understand that he felt that he needed to test Griselda's love but seriously? He took it a little too far. How many times did she really need to prove it? He should've accepted the fact that she loved him after the very first time he tested it and she proved it.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that we are incapable of unconditional love. However, many things in the modern day would make people think otherwise. In relationships people tend to end them after the other has done something hurtful or betrayed their trust. They do this even after they that they love the person. But at the first sign of the person not being perfect, they no longer love them. To me that says that they never truly loved that person to begin with. I think that many times we choose to let things offend and hurt us more than they really should. Now, I'm not saying that if someone gets cheated on by their spouse and it ends in divorce that they never really loved each other. I just think that if you love someone unconditionally that you have to accept and love all of them. That's including their faults, their imperfections, and the times that they hurt you because most likely, they didn't really intend to cause you pain. We're all human and we all make mistakes. We can love unconditionally. I think that's how we were meant to love.
I think it's pretty clear after you hear the story of Abraham and his only son Isaac that this tale is allegorical for having complete faith in God, so much so that you ignore your needs and wants or at least realize that you cannot comprehend the true nature of God's plan and lay your trust in his judgment. In both stories, the objects the people, Griselda and Abraham, thought they were giving up were not sacrificed, the entire thing was a test.
ReplyDeleteI think in this story, there is unconditional trust and reliance. Love, I'm not so sure. It's not like Griselda had any reason to love Walter. He just decided to marry her one day and tested her since.
I think humans in general can love unconditionally. There are many cases of people loving others to the point of almost ridiculousness, such as in the cases where the child has committed horrible crimes against humanity.
Unconditional love means love under any condition Griselda being faithful to her husband under every condition shows that literal meaning of unconditional love. We are still capable of that kind of love it is the society that makes it hard to have unconditional love because of all the standards that we make but in that time love was more about commitment of a women to her husband.
ReplyDeleteI think that unconditional love is being willing to do anything for that individual.
ReplyDeleteI think that this story is the image of what unconditional love is supposed to be like. Or the writers view of what unconditional love should be from one side. The husband did not show unconditional love. I think that in our day it's hard for people to love their significant other unconditionally, because they're worried about whether or not they can trust them. Whether they can trust that if they give everything they will get that same unconditional love in return. Which is why i agree with Luke in that loving unconditionally is somewhat selfish. Only in rare situations like Griselda's where she didn't worry about whether or not he loved her as much and did everything she could for him.
And though I was frustrated with Griselda for staying with Walter I respect her for it. Think of the woman she must have been. Walter is lucky she didn't just turn around and walk away from him.
After reading this tale, I can readily admit that I was a great deal more than frustrated with not only Walter, but Griselda as well, so I can understand the literary critics being upset. Whatever happened to the "Momma bear instinct"- that innate drive in females to protect their young at any cost?
ReplyDeleteI feel that this is both a story about unconditional love and a lack of unconditional love. It is obvious that Griselda loves Walter unconditionally. However, I can not say that Walter feels the same way for his wife. To put her through such a level of heartbreak does not appear to be the most loving gesture.
As for a comparision between the story of Abraham and Isaac, and Griselda and her sons, there is one major difference: the being demanding the sacrifice. Walter is not God. So why is he allowed to demand such a sacrifice as a test of love? Like I said earlier: frustrating.
There is frustration found in Griselda’s blind obedience to Walter, but here you have a peasant whose life has probably faced a lot more pain and suffering than anything that Walter had done. This is not a justification to what Walter did was right in any way, but I think Griselda was a lot happier with Walter and his loyalty torments than the life she faced before. Clearly Griselda is a sweet and optimistic person that has faith not matter the circumstance in her life and her husband, thus being a tale that is an allegory to faith in God. A question that puzzles me is if she had such unconditional love, where was this shown in her children being taking away and “killed”, as it seemed almost as though she was unnerved by this. Besides if it where unconditional love, would she not beg for her husband not to leave her, or at least seem a little nerved by any of these acts? In modern society I suppose, most mothers have an unconditional love for their children, especially at such young age, but marriage is more about commitment. I do believe that she asserted unconditional faith in her life.
ReplyDeleteEileen O'Shaughnessy
For whatever reason the quote "you never know what you have until it's gone" stuck in my head when I was reading this (I don't know why, but it just was, haha) Anyway, I don't think we're incapable of uncontentional love. It's definitely within everyone's reach, but I believe there's always that little bit out of a doubt. There's always that one flaw (or many flaws, depending on who you are), that keeps a couple away from that feeling. You can say that there's nothing wrong with your significant other (I've just always wanted to say that), but there's always something.
ReplyDeleteSure we as people are capable of unconditional love, we just try as hard as we can not to. Unfortunately, unlike other languages, we do not have seperate words for love to describe the various forms of it, making it a whole lot easier for people to understand one another. The Greek word agape refers to the love of a spouse, family member, or particular activity; and was used by early Christian writers to describe the "unconditional love" God had shown them. However our view of unconditional love also includes the Greek philia, which means more along the lines of brotherly love. To unconditionaly love someone does not mean that you never get annoyed or angry at someone, but that you never stop loving them, much like a parent is upset at a child for drawing on the wall with a crayon. In fact that is a perfect example and proof that unconditional love does in fact exist. In a familial setting this is far easier, where most of the people are similar to you. The rest of the world however, people have vastly different views than ours, and often their views contridict or even openly attack ours. To get past all of that and still "love" people, is very difficult. Also the fact that love is such a confusing term (going back to my frustration about a single term for "love") doesn't help the problem. Do we love them like a family member, a spouse, a friend, or what? The answer is that unconditional love definitly does NOT include philia, it is merely the application of agape over those who would usually only merit philia. In other words, to treat everyone as though they were family, to give them that unending forgiveness and paitence that a parent would show a child apt to draw on walls.
ReplyDeleteSo this whole book is supposed to be a satire, right? And this story is a satire of the then-current idea of faith. Amiright? Chaucer's pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. Then I wonder what Chaucer's view of what religion should be like was. Or did he even approve of religion at all? If we went over this in class, I don't remember it. It was like months ago. But anyway, he seems disillusioned with society, so I wonder how he thought the world ought to be. It doesn't particularly seem like he prized faithfulness above all else.
ReplyDeleteI think this frustration is founded, because noone should be treated how Griselda was treated. I believe people are capable of conditional love, but I dont think most people accomplish that. There is always some doubt, some rift, that prevents someone from obtaining unconditional love towards someone else.
ReplyDeletePeople aren’t necessarily incapable of unconditional love; it’s just that you rarely, if ever, see it these days. All you hear about is petty breakups and divorces and all sorts of uncommitted relationships. Love has somehow lost it’s meaning in our crazy progression towards wherever. One example of unconditional love has stuck around though, and that’s between a parent and a child, like Ashley said. Probably more so between a mother and her child. No offense to men, but it seems that a mother is closer to her children more than the father. A result of that (approximately) nine month journey they have. No matter what the child does, good or otherwise, the mother will always love him/her. Logically, it makes no sense to put faith in someone who seems to continuously fail and incapable of doing it. But faith has a tendency to defy logic.
ReplyDeleteSTILL, Griselda’s unrequited obedience for Walter is so very frustrating. And then, even though Griselda is clearly devoted to Walter, he decides to test her. Not exactly the best demonstration of unconditional love on his part, but maybe this is where the “possession” rule of Courtly Love comes in? The story demonstrates what unconditional love is supposed to look like; no necessarily between a man and woman, but us and God. And I guess, according to the Bible, God does have this habit of testing our faith towards him.