Clothing

When Walter marries Grisilde, "for that nothyng of hir olde geere / She sholde brynge into his hous," he orders his maids to strip her naked where she stands and dress her in the clothes that he has brought for her (372-378). Later in the "Clerk's Tale," Grisilde makes the symbolism of this moment clear: "As I lefte at hoom al my clothyng, / Whan I first cam to yow," she tells Walter, "lefte I my wyl and al my libertee, / And took youre clothyng" (654-656).

So Grisilde's clothing symbolizes her will and liberty. That's a fancy-shmancy way of saying that we can see Grisilde's station in life (like whether she's poor or rich, and whether she's married or unmarried) just by looking at her clothes. Her new duds show that she's a lady, and that she's a married woman.

Back in the medieval day, there was a legal custom called femme couverte, from the French phrase meaning "covered woman." A medieval woman who married was considered under the law to be represented or "covered" by her husband. So Walter's clothing of Grisilde represents his "coverage" of her in marriage. It means, more or less, that Grisilde's will comes second to her husband's, and that she is supposed to obey him in everything.

There's one more way that clothes are symbolic in the "Clerk's Tale." When Grisilde leaves Walter's palace, Walter says he will allow her to take her dowry away with her. Grisilde reminds him, though, that she brought with her only faith, nakedness, and maidenhood. "Wherfore, in guerdon of my maydenhede / Which that I broghte, and noght agayn I bere," says Grisilde, "As voucheth sauf to yeve me to my meede / But swich a smok as I was wont to were" (883-886).

This smock, then, symbolizes Grisilde's maidenhood. It might also symbolize everything Walter has taken from her, including her will and liberty, of which her maidenhood is only the physical symbol.