The tale of Sir Cleges makes a strong dichotomy between the rich and those “in poverté bare” (Sir Cleges 17). In what ways, and to what extent, does this factor into the interactions and exchanges Sir Cleges has on his way to speaking with King Uther?
ENGL 365 | Medieval Object Ecologies
Dr. Myra Seaman | Fall 2014
Besides Sir Cleges and his wife, the rich seemed to generally be unwilling to help the poor. Cleges was different when he had money- he helped anyone who needed it and spent so much on other people that he became poor himself. Sadly, few were willing to help him once the money was gone. The richer servants of the king were given to greed, each one taking advantage of Cleges by demanding 1/3 of his reward should the king give him one. Wealth is what everyone besides Cleges seems to want most. They consistantly put material things above the well being of other people. Even King Uther was shocked when Cleges demanded something other than money or goods. Cleges and his family, however, consistantly value people over riches. His wife does not scorn him or get upset when they fall into poverty and they gave all they had at the beginning of the story. Cleges teaches the king’s servants a hilarious message about their greed when he requests beatings instead of riches, and gives them each 1/3 of them!
The story also seems to be a commentary on the divide between the spiritual and the material. Cleges and his family use the material as a tool to help others less fortunate than themselves, to the point that the family becomes one of the less fortunate. But it can be seen as fortune, because if they did not come into the financial state they are in,, when they are in the woods, they would not have found the cherries in winter.
There’s definitely a strong divide between the rich and the poor throughout the story, which is further divided by showing how Sir Cleges differs from the other wealthy characters of the story. To Sir Cleges, wealth is a means in which one may help the less wealthy, while to others (the steward, the guard, and the porter), their wealth is a personal thing to be kept to one’s self, even going so as to far to manipulate the poor into giving up whatever wealth they may have.
Sir Cleges family throw lavish party and invite all, rich and poor, which stands as a stark difference in comparison to the welcome Sir Cleges received when entering the king’s domain. He was seen as an outsider, a travesty upon the lordly scene surrounding him. Suffering manipulation, insults and refusal of entry, his task became incredibly arduous, even though he was simply giving a gift to the king. All the riches bestowed upon him at the end weren’t his choice or idea (in fact, he asked for nothing material, to the king’s surprise) and used the new found riches to forever take care of his people.
It is Sir Cleges’ appearance as a poor man (“as maner in poverte” (252) “in a symple aray” (261)) that causes the attendants to stop him from seeing King Uther. The porter tells him to “go stond in begers route” (268) and the usher calls him a churl all because of his outward appearance — his “clothes olde” (332). I think it is probably safe to assume that if he appeared as a knight they would have let him into the fete no questions asked, and even if they did not let him in automatically, they probably would not have been as quick in trying to take advantage of him. After Sir Cleges cleverness is revealed, the king attributes it to his nobility (‘nobull wytte” (521)). When the king gives him “alll that longes to a knyght” (541) Sir Cleges really becomes a knight again because he has the correct things “to aray hys body with” (542). He did not loose his nobility when he put on peasant clothes, but outward appearance is important to his being identified as a knight by lower classes.
There was a clear divide between the rich and the poor, even the servants of the rich, like Uther’s servants who turned Cleges away even while he offered a gift to the king during the time when he had nothing.
And it sets a sympathetic tie to Cleges because he was a devout Christian man, and at the same time he gives generously to everyone, rich and poor alike, so it is a sad moment in the story when he falls into poverty himself. Cleges is clever, yet humble before the king, offering him fruit as a gift for his feast and such. From what I could understand, Cleges had a good head on his shoulders, even if society was not nearly as kind to him as he was to them.