The Merchant's Tale Guide by Patrick Wilkinson https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd Patrick Wilkinson ENGL-2322-083 en-us 2021-09-30 03:22:39 UTC 2026-01-06 00:30:15 UTC hello@padlet.com Speaker patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780100998 The speaker of the tale is a merchant who narrates the tale from the third person omniscient. The Merchant is a member of the upper class as it existed back in the Middle Ages, able to command a large amount of influence and power thanks to their wealth and association with the nobility. Chaucer in the poem portrays the speaker as a caustic and unromantic person, who compares his marriage to a prison, filled with suffering “And the extreme cruelty of my wife, Were I released, so may I may prosper, I would never again come in the snare, We wedded men live in sorrow and care”(lines 1225-1228). The speaker’s clear distaste for marriage in general and his in particular, set the stage for the events of the story, where the two primary characters end up locked in a marriage that is more akin to a prison. 


]]> 2021-09-30 03:24:25 UTC https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780100998 Historical Context patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780102192
The reason why another term to describe Medieval Europe is the “Dark Ages” is because of the continent’s lack of any large scale, centralized government. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman armies that had forcibly pacified the various separate populations under imperial rule left the scene, allowing them to once again reassert their independence and their feuds with each other. This infighting prevented a large government from rising up, and led to the creation of the feudal system and aristocracy, of which January is a member. As Markus Fischer says, “With empire, kingdoms, and papacy unable to maintain effective unity, feudal Europe fragmented during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries into an ever-growing mosaic of smaller political units, such as duchies, margravates, counties, and castellanies, as local military commanders usurped control over  their administrative districts.28 Given the dominance of local defense and the opportunities it offered for enterprising strongmen, every knight sought to fortify his house, leading to a proliferation of castles, each manned by a band of knights, from the ninth century onward.”(Fischer, 438-439). As such, January holds considerable power within his territory, but he lacks an heir, the only means of which for him to pass down his land and titles. 


The lack of a person to inherit his estate, coupled with “And sixty years a wifeless man was he, And followed always his bodily desire, On women, where was his appetite, As do these fools that are secular. And when he was passed sixty years, Were it for holiness or for dotage, I can not say, but such a great desire, Had this knight to be a wedded man.”(lines 1248-1255.), helps to explain why he is so determined to both marry May, and stay married to her despite her infidelity. Another possible explanation is that due to the Catholic Church’s influence, divorcing May and remarrying would not be a viable option. Though legal, “Liturgical texts distinguished the nuptial blessing with the caption 'benedic- tio sacramentalis', and the significance of this blessing in the church ceremony was made clear to the congregation by the stipulation that a canopy should be held over the bride and groom at this moment." Withholding the nuptial blessing, and its visible symbol the canopy, from those not marrying for the first time further emphasized its sacramental significance. As Bonaventure had explained, the nuptial blessing was not repeated because subsequent marriages, despite being lawful, were sacramentally less complete.”(Peters,67-68). At that point in time, when the nobility ruled through the claim of divine right, losing face with the Church could spell the end of his rule. Therefore, despite May’s infidelity, his social standing demands he stay married to her. 







]]> 2021-09-30 03:24:50 UTC https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780102192 Plot Summary patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780103423 January, an aged and vain knight, decides to take a wife and becomes married to May, a young beauty who manipulates him constantly. As January goes blind from his old age, she takes on a lover, Damian, with ancient deities such as Venus, the Roman goddess of love, intervening on the side of Damian and May. After some time has passed, Damian and May being overtly manipulating January and end up having sex in his presence, knowing that he cannot see them in the act. These actions draw the attention of two other deities, Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, and Proserpina, his bound wife. Pluto, disgusted at this infidelity, decides to punish May and “To January he gave again his sight, And made him see as well as he ever could, And when he had recovered his sight again,  There was never man of anything so happy, But on his wife his thought was evermore. Up to the tree he cast his eyes two, And saw that Damian had treated his wife in such a manner that it can not be expressed“(lines 2355-2362). However, when confronted by January, is able to convince him that he was merely in shock due to recovering his eyesight thanks to the ritual she and Damian were conducting due to the intervention of Proserpina. The story ends with January happily taking his wife in his arms, all while she alludes to her affair with Damian continuing. The plot contains some similarities with the tale of Adam and Eve from the Christian Bible. In both stories, something that is considered sacred is defiled, whether it be the tree with forbidden fruit or a consecrated marriage. These transgressions broadcast the folly of believing something that involved mortal men to always be sacred, for their own lusts and desires have proved more than capable of tarnishing them. 


]]> 2021-09-30 03:25:20 UTC https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780103423 Speaker's Motivation patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780104558 The speaker in this story is likely telling this tale to further his point that marriage is not all it’s cracked up to be. Consider from where the merchant is telling this story, a tavern. The most plausible explanation of the speaker’s motivation, from what Chaucer has him say about his own marriage, such as “I have a wife, the worst that can be”(line 1281) is that he has come to this bar to get away from his marriage. Over the course of drinking his woes away, he has decided to regale the other patrons of the tale of January and May, likely in order to reinforce their sympathy for him, as he sees himself also trapped in a marriage like January is. 


]]> 2021-09-30 03:25:51 UTC https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780104558 Cultural Commentary patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780105757 Overall, Chaucer's message to his audience is one of cynicism about the concept of marriage and love. This short story covers the experience of a married couple, a life that in theory should be one of extreme love and happiness. Instead, we have an aged and decrepit knight marrying a much younger woman for no other reason than for the wife to produce an heir, and a wife whose distaste for her husband is so great, that she and her lover have sex in his very presence while he is literally blind to it. Finally, even after being exposed by the intervention of a couple of deities with remarkably similar circumstances, she manipulates her husband further, claiming to only love him while all but declaring that her infidelity will continue. The author’s portrayal of deities also having the same problems as their mortal counterparts further broadcasts the cynical them. If at this time in the Middle Ages, where religion was widespread and marriage was considered sacrosanct, two actual gods could be wed without any love between them shows that the idea of marriage being proof of undying love is incorrect to say the least. 


]]> 2021-09-30 03:26:24 UTC https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780105757 Works Cited patricknwilkinson8 https://padlet.com/patricknwilkinson8/uhczl051bs7bmfrd/wish/1780106575
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “Chaucer: The Merchant's Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue -- an Interlinear Translation.” Translated by Larry D. Benson, Chaucer: The Merchant's Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue -- an Interlinear Translation, 2002, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mert-par.htm.


Fischer, Markus. “Feudal Europe, 800-1300: Communal Discourse and Conflictual Practices.” International Organization, vol. 46, no. 2, [MIT Press, University of Wisconsin Press, Cambridge University Press, International Organization Foundation], 1992, pp. 427–66, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2706859.


Peters, Christine. “Gender, Sacrament and Ritual: The Making and Meaning of Marriage in Late Medieval and Early Modern England.” Past & Present, no. 169, [Oxford University Press, The Past and Present Society], 2000, pp. 63–96, http://www.jstor.org/stable/651264.




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