The Merchant's Tale Key Quotes, Interpretations and Context
Key Quotes – The Merchant’s Tale
‘We wedden men liven in sorwe and care’ - The Merchant
‘on wommen, ther as was his appetit’ - strong sexual appetite
[Januarie’s voice] “Noon other lyf is worth a bene; for wedlok is so esy and so clene’’ “it is a
paradis” “heigh fantasye”
‘take a yong wif and a feir, on which he mighte engendren him an heir’ - a young wife can produce
an heir, Chaucer reminding reader of what his intentions in marrying a wife should be
[Theofraste’s voice]: ‘‘mystow been a cokewold’’ - Januarie rejects this view that he may become
a cuckold
[Januarie voice, talking to his friends]: “I am hoor and oold” - he is white-haired and old
[Januarie] “She shal nat passe twenty yeer”
“yong flessh” “bet than old boef is the tendre veel” - young flesh is better than old flesh (beef=older
cow vs veel=calf)
[Januarie] “a yong thing may men gye , right as men may warm wex with handes plye” - men can
guide young women and mould them like wax (sexual metaphor) - young wives are impressionable
“I have wept many a teere ful prively, sin I have had a wyf” - Justinus has wept/been miserable
since being married
The public thinks he has a “stedefast” (faithful) and “mekeste” (humble) wife
“ye shul nat plesen hire fully yeres thre”
‘Heigh fantasye’ - Januarie is constantly fantasising about his marriage
[Januarie] Wants to get married in “haste” to a “mayde fair and tendre of age” - young and
beautiful, like a piece of meat
‘Heigh fantasye’ - Januarie is constantly fantasising about his marriage
‘Many fair shap and many a fair visage ther passeth thurgh his herte night by night’ ‘as whoso
tooke a mirour, polisshed bright, and sette it in a commune market-place' - he is observing many
pretty shapes and faces (choosing a wife) like he is shopping / mirror is a metaphor – focused on appearance,
not reality
‘love is blynd alday, and may nat see’ - he is blinded by beauty – can't foresee that she will be unfaithful
– metaphorical blindness foreshadows literal blindness
‘in his bed’ he thought of her ‘fresshe beautee,’ ‘hir age tendre,’ ‘hir middel smal,’ ‘hir armes
longe and sklendre,’ ‘hir wise governaunce,’ ‘hir gentillesse,’ ‘hir wommanly beringe’ - beauty, youth,
small waist, long and slender arms, self-control, nobility and womanly bearing (virginal)
, Despite her being of ‘small degree’ (low rank), ‘suffiseth him hir yowthe and hir beautee’ - her
beauty is enough/sufficient to satisfy him
‘tendre youthe hath wedded stouping age, ther is swich mirthe that it may nat be writen’ - there is
joy surrounding the marriage - beauty and youth vs old age – May's feelings not described
‘Lyk to the naddre in bosom sly untrewe’ - biblical snake reference – Damyan is the inevitable serpent
that will tempt the woman
‘The bride was broght abedde as stille as stoon’ - May is awkward, reluctant
‘thikke brustles of his berde unsofte, lyk to the skin of a houndfissh’ ‘hir tendre face’ - contrast –
reminds us of the age gap
‘She preyseth nat his pleying worth a bene’ - his lovemaking isn’t worth a bean – suggestion she
has previous experience?
‘woful Damyan that langwissheth for love’ - seems like the start of courtly romance
Januarie: “That art the creature that I best love” - May is who he loves best – sympathy?
‘in the privee softely it caste’ - May reads the letter and throws it down the toilet after tearing it up –
bathos
‘he preyde hir strepen hire al naked’ - Januarie wakes up and wants sex or at least to admire May naked
‘she obeyeth, be hire lief or looth’ - she obeys him whether she wants to or not
‘he had hond on hire alway’ - Januarie forced May to never leave his side, always had his hand on her – in
the cartoon, this is a rope
‘she bigan to wepe’ says she has “a soule for to kepe, as wel as ye, and also myn honour, and of
my wifhod” - May is acting/emotionally manipulating Januarie – convincing him she is faithful
‘finger signes made she that Damyan sholde climbe upon a tree’ - signalling to Damyan
‘charged was with fruit’ - sexual connotations
‘Pluto, that is king of Faireye [...] Proserpina, which that he ravisshed out of Ethna’
“the lechour, in the tree” - Pluto calling Damyan perverted
Proserpina’s voice: “I shall yeven hire suffisant answere” - Proserpina will give May a ready answer to
defend herself
‘He stoupeth down, and on his bak she stood’ - we feel sympathy for Januarie who is being ‘walked all
over’ quite literally by May
‘Damyan gan pullen up the smok, and in he throng’ - explicit language describing how Damyan
thrusts into May
‘Pluto saugh this grete wrong, to Januarie he gaf again his sighte’ - Pluto is on Januarie’s side
Key Quotes – The Merchant’s Tale
‘We wedden men liven in sorwe and care’ - The Merchant
‘on wommen, ther as was his appetit’ - strong sexual appetite
[Januarie’s voice] “Noon other lyf is worth a bene; for wedlok is so esy and so clene’’ “it is a
paradis” “heigh fantasye”
‘take a yong wif and a feir, on which he mighte engendren him an heir’ - a young wife can produce
an heir, Chaucer reminding reader of what his intentions in marrying a wife should be
[Theofraste’s voice]: ‘‘mystow been a cokewold’’ - Januarie rejects this view that he may become
a cuckold
[Januarie voice, talking to his friends]: “I am hoor and oold” - he is white-haired and old
[Januarie] “She shal nat passe twenty yeer”
“yong flessh” “bet than old boef is the tendre veel” - young flesh is better than old flesh (beef=older
cow vs veel=calf)
[Januarie] “a yong thing may men gye , right as men may warm wex with handes plye” - men can
guide young women and mould them like wax (sexual metaphor) - young wives are impressionable
“I have wept many a teere ful prively, sin I have had a wyf” - Justinus has wept/been miserable
since being married
The public thinks he has a “stedefast” (faithful) and “mekeste” (humble) wife
“ye shul nat plesen hire fully yeres thre”
‘Heigh fantasye’ - Januarie is constantly fantasising about his marriage
[Januarie] Wants to get married in “haste” to a “mayde fair and tendre of age” - young and
beautiful, like a piece of meat
‘Heigh fantasye’ - Januarie is constantly fantasising about his marriage
‘Many fair shap and many a fair visage ther passeth thurgh his herte night by night’ ‘as whoso
tooke a mirour, polisshed bright, and sette it in a commune market-place' - he is observing many
pretty shapes and faces (choosing a wife) like he is shopping / mirror is a metaphor – focused on appearance,
not reality
‘love is blynd alday, and may nat see’ - he is blinded by beauty – can't foresee that she will be unfaithful
– metaphorical blindness foreshadows literal blindness
‘in his bed’ he thought of her ‘fresshe beautee,’ ‘hir age tendre,’ ‘hir middel smal,’ ‘hir armes
longe and sklendre,’ ‘hir wise governaunce,’ ‘hir gentillesse,’ ‘hir wommanly beringe’ - beauty, youth,
small waist, long and slender arms, self-control, nobility and womanly bearing (virginal)
, Despite her being of ‘small degree’ (low rank), ‘suffiseth him hir yowthe and hir beautee’ - her
beauty is enough/sufficient to satisfy him
‘tendre youthe hath wedded stouping age, ther is swich mirthe that it may nat be writen’ - there is
joy surrounding the marriage - beauty and youth vs old age – May's feelings not described
‘Lyk to the naddre in bosom sly untrewe’ - biblical snake reference – Damyan is the inevitable serpent
that will tempt the woman
‘The bride was broght abedde as stille as stoon’ - May is awkward, reluctant
‘thikke brustles of his berde unsofte, lyk to the skin of a houndfissh’ ‘hir tendre face’ - contrast –
reminds us of the age gap
‘She preyseth nat his pleying worth a bene’ - his lovemaking isn’t worth a bean – suggestion she
has previous experience?
‘woful Damyan that langwissheth for love’ - seems like the start of courtly romance
Januarie: “That art the creature that I best love” - May is who he loves best – sympathy?
‘in the privee softely it caste’ - May reads the letter and throws it down the toilet after tearing it up –
bathos
‘he preyde hir strepen hire al naked’ - Januarie wakes up and wants sex or at least to admire May naked
‘she obeyeth, be hire lief or looth’ - she obeys him whether she wants to or not
‘he had hond on hire alway’ - Januarie forced May to never leave his side, always had his hand on her – in
the cartoon, this is a rope
‘she bigan to wepe’ says she has “a soule for to kepe, as wel as ye, and also myn honour, and of
my wifhod” - May is acting/emotionally manipulating Januarie – convincing him she is faithful
‘finger signes made she that Damyan sholde climbe upon a tree’ - signalling to Damyan
‘charged was with fruit’ - sexual connotations
‘Pluto, that is king of Faireye [...] Proserpina, which that he ravisshed out of Ethna’
“the lechour, in the tree” - Pluto calling Damyan perverted
Proserpina’s voice: “I shall yeven hire suffisant answere” - Proserpina will give May a ready answer to
defend herself
‘He stoupeth down, and on his bak she stood’ - we feel sympathy for Januarie who is being ‘walked all
over’ quite literally by May
‘Damyan gan pullen up the smok, and in he throng’ - explicit language describing how Damyan
thrusts into May
‘Pluto saugh this grete wrong, to Januarie he gaf again his sighte’ - Pluto is on Januarie’s side
