The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale Quotations
Remember: Learn quotes that allow the introduction of AO3
Thematic
Morality and Sin
‘And for to lyve under that hooly bond / With which that first God man and
womman bond’ – The Merchant
‘For wedlock is so esy and so clene, that in this world it is a paradys’ – The
Merchant
- Begins by describing Januarie’s enthusiasm for marriage
- This is later supported when he describes marriage as pure and easy
‘clene’ and ‘esy’
‘Paranuter she may be you’re purgatorie! She may be Goddes meene and
Goddes whippe’ – Justinus
- He links marriage to a younger woman to Purgatory, state of suffering and
redemption before heaven, young women can be God’s instrument and
also deliver his punishments
‘Lyk to the naddre in bosom sly untrewe’ – The Merchant
‘And thynges whice that were nat doon abedde. He in the gardyn parfourned
hem and spedde’ – The Merchant
- Compares Damyan to sly and untrue ‘naddre’ (an adder) (Link serpent in
Genesis)
- Merchant later refers to paradise garden which J builds for M
Gender
‘She is a shrewe at al’ – The Merchant
- Merchant complaining about his wife to other pilgrims
- ‘shrewe’, was a common medieval term for ill-tempered woman
‘Woman is for mannes helpe ywroght’ – The Merchant
‘And thane he made him Eve’ – The Merchant
- Women were made to help men, God made Eve to help Adam
‘I wol no womman thritty year of age. It is but bene-straw and greet forage’ – The
Merchant
- J explicitly states he wants a younger woman as his wife, a woman over
thirty is like straw and ‘rough ground’
Remember: Learn quotes that allow the introduction of AO3
Thematic
Morality and Sin
‘And for to lyve under that hooly bond / With which that first God man and
womman bond’ – The Merchant
‘For wedlock is so esy and so clene, that in this world it is a paradys’ – The
Merchant
- Begins by describing Januarie’s enthusiasm for marriage
- This is later supported when he describes marriage as pure and easy
‘clene’ and ‘esy’
‘Paranuter she may be you’re purgatorie! She may be Goddes meene and
Goddes whippe’ – Justinus
- He links marriage to a younger woman to Purgatory, state of suffering and
redemption before heaven, young women can be God’s instrument and
also deliver his punishments
‘Lyk to the naddre in bosom sly untrewe’ – The Merchant
‘And thynges whice that were nat doon abedde. He in the gardyn parfourned
hem and spedde’ – The Merchant
- Compares Damyan to sly and untrue ‘naddre’ (an adder) (Link serpent in
Genesis)
- Merchant later refers to paradise garden which J builds for M
Gender
‘She is a shrewe at al’ – The Merchant
- Merchant complaining about his wife to other pilgrims
- ‘shrewe’, was a common medieval term for ill-tempered woman
‘Woman is for mannes helpe ywroght’ – The Merchant
‘And thane he made him Eve’ – The Merchant
- Women were made to help men, God made Eve to help Adam
‘I wol no womman thritty year of age. It is but bene-straw and greet forage’ – The
Merchant
- J explicitly states he wants a younger woman as his wife, a woman over
thirty is like straw and ‘rough ground’
