The Merchant’s Tale- Essay Plans
1. ‘Power and social rank are no guarantees of happiness’. Consider some of the
ways in which this remark may be applied to Chaucer’s character presentation.
January’s power over May initially that inevitably reverses. His high power and social status
doesn’t guarantee his happiness:
❏ ‘Worthy knight’ (17)
❏ Feudalism- Knights below Nobles. They kept land for themselves and
distributed the rest among peasants. Supposedly loyal and generous.
❏ ‘Harder than evere Paris dide Eleyne’ (543)
❏ Ironic classical allusion to Helen of Troy, January is hubristic in thinking he is
Paris when in fact he is Menelaus.
❏ ‘He is a gentil squier, by my trouthe’ (694)
❏ ‘That thilke might offenden her’
❏ ‘Sharp and keene’ (546)
❏ ‘That hadde an hand upon hire evermo’ (890)
❏ ‘Blind as stoon’ (943)
❏ ‘January shops for his bride’- Tolliver
❏ ‘The male exploitation of power for erotic purchase’- Martin
May with no contextual power and a low social rank arguably ends up the happiest:
❏ ‘Old boef is the veel I wol no womman thritty yeer of age’ (209)
❏ Women;s purpose as childbearers- property of men.
❏ ‘Warm wex with handes plye’ (217)
❏ ‘Stille as stoon’ (606)
❏ ‘Warm wex emprented the clicket’ (905)
❏ ‘I most han the peres that I see or I moot die’ (1120)
❏ Daughters of Eve parallel as women were seen as innately deceptive
❏ May transcends the economic and religious nexus in which she has been sold
and violated’- Aers
❏ ‘Happiness is only possible through folly and deception’- Harrington
2. Chaucer makes rich use of symbolism to shape his text’. Consider Chaucer’s use
of symbols as a method of foregrounding Chaucer’s key themes.
Theme of sex and fertility:
❏ ‘Warm wex with handes plye’ (217)
❏ ‘That is in marriage honey-sweete’ (184)
❏ ‘Smale peres grene’ (1123)
❏ ‘I most han the peres that I see or I moot die’ (1120)
❏ ‘That charged was the fruit , and up he wente’ (999)
❏ Sex was prohibited by the Catholic Church during holidays, on Sunday’s and
when not trying to concieve a child.
❏ ‘Lyk to the nadder in bosom sly untrewe’ (574)
❏ Adam and Eve, garden of Eden imagery- fruit as a representation of lust and
1. ‘Power and social rank are no guarantees of happiness’. Consider some of the
ways in which this remark may be applied to Chaucer’s character presentation.
January’s power over May initially that inevitably reverses. His high power and social status
doesn’t guarantee his happiness:
❏ ‘Worthy knight’ (17)
❏ Feudalism- Knights below Nobles. They kept land for themselves and
distributed the rest among peasants. Supposedly loyal and generous.
❏ ‘Harder than evere Paris dide Eleyne’ (543)
❏ Ironic classical allusion to Helen of Troy, January is hubristic in thinking he is
Paris when in fact he is Menelaus.
❏ ‘He is a gentil squier, by my trouthe’ (694)
❏ ‘That thilke might offenden her’
❏ ‘Sharp and keene’ (546)
❏ ‘That hadde an hand upon hire evermo’ (890)
❏ ‘Blind as stoon’ (943)
❏ ‘January shops for his bride’- Tolliver
❏ ‘The male exploitation of power for erotic purchase’- Martin
May with no contextual power and a low social rank arguably ends up the happiest:
❏ ‘Old boef is the veel I wol no womman thritty yeer of age’ (209)
❏ Women;s purpose as childbearers- property of men.
❏ ‘Warm wex with handes plye’ (217)
❏ ‘Stille as stoon’ (606)
❏ ‘Warm wex emprented the clicket’ (905)
❏ ‘I most han the peres that I see or I moot die’ (1120)
❏ Daughters of Eve parallel as women were seen as innately deceptive
❏ May transcends the economic and religious nexus in which she has been sold
and violated’- Aers
❏ ‘Happiness is only possible through folly and deception’- Harrington
2. Chaucer makes rich use of symbolism to shape his text’. Consider Chaucer’s use
of symbols as a method of foregrounding Chaucer’s key themes.
Theme of sex and fertility:
❏ ‘Warm wex with handes plye’ (217)
❏ ‘That is in marriage honey-sweete’ (184)
❏ ‘Smale peres grene’ (1123)
❏ ‘I most han the peres that I see or I moot die’ (1120)
❏ ‘That charged was the fruit , and up he wente’ (999)
❏ Sex was prohibited by the Catholic Church during holidays, on Sunday’s and
when not trying to concieve a child.
❏ ‘Lyk to the nadder in bosom sly untrewe’ (574)
❏ Adam and Eve, garden of Eden imagery- fruit as a representation of lust and
