In Chaucer’s Clerk’s Tale, Walter’s search for signs of discontent and mental anguish on his wife’s inscrutable countenance invites an analysis of the minds of its characters. Walter’s and Griselda’s mental functioning merits attention from the perspective of contemporary cognitive theories such as Alan Palmer’s concept of the social mind. This perspective reveals Chaucer’s concern with the problem of human minds’ being closed off from the observer or else their thinking being transmittable. The prominence of the intermental processes of the Saluzzans in Clerks’ Tale suggests a view of intelligence as shared rather than dualistic. The anti-dualistic stance is reinforced by his protagonists’ eventual failure to bracket their minds off from each other and their people. However intently Walter and Griselda hide their thoughts behind the impenetrability of their faces and physical behaviour, as the narrative progresses their minds become not only readable but also unified. 

Dr. Narinsky’s research combines narratological and cognitive theories with medieval studies. She is currently working on medieval dream narratives, from a narratological perspective.