Translation, Creation, and Empowerment in Chaucer's Clerk's Tale

  • 투고 : 2011.10.30
  • 심사 : 2011.12.10
  • 발행 : 2011.11.30

초록

In this paper, I discuss Chaucer's Clerk's Tale by viewing the relationship between Walter and Griselda as that of a medieval translator and his translation. My major concern is how a medieval translation can serve power, more specifically the consolidation of power under particular historical circumstances. The motive and the process of Walter's creative translation of Griselda are closely examined to show that his translation, which includes a creation of a new Griselda as a pinnacle of wifely virtue of patience, is performed as a form of political propaganda, ultimately aimed at strengthening his governing power over his people and land. My discussion of the Clerk's Tale ends with the comparison of the two translators, Walter and the Clerk, the latter of whom is an example of an unsuccessful translator for his lack of creation in the translation.

키워드