The Merchant's Tale: Themes (OCR A Level English Literature)

The Merchant's Prologue and Tale: Themes

Exam responses that are led by ideas are more likely to reach the highest levels of the mark scheme. Exploring the ideas of the text, specifically in relation to the question being asked, will help to increase your fluency and assurance in writing about the poem.

Below are some of the key themes that could be explored in The Merchant's Prologue and Tale: 

• Morality and sin

• Gender

• Marriage and love

• Fate 

This list is not exhaustive and you are encouraged to explore any other ideas or themes you identify within the poem.

Morality and sin

The Canterbury Tales allude to religious themes through stories which are told by travellers on a religious pilgrimage to the shrine of a Christian martyr. In The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, the pilgrims, linked by common Christian values, hear a story about a sinful knight and a morally corrupt young wife, which brings a pious and doctrinal tone to the epic poem. 

Knowledge and evidence:

• In the Middle Ages, pilgrimages represented an opportunity for a diverse group of individuals to gather together out of a shared religious devotion:

  • The pilgrims discuss morality and sin as they ride to a shrine

• In The Merchant’s Tale the old knight, Januarie, describes marriage as a contract willed by God which creates a paradise on Earth:

  • He describes it as a “hooly boond”

• Chaucer examines Christian teachings which encourage sex within the confines of marriage:

  • Chaucer refers to Januarie making use of the marital debt 

  • He builds a walled garden where May can pay her sexual debt to him

• Januarie’s sudden religious devotion and desire to marry in the eyes of God is presented as incongruous: 

  • Until now he has led a promiscuous life and now he wants an heir

  • His lustful nature corrupts his virtuous motives for marriage

• Chaucer utilises allusions to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve to challenge religious ideals:

  • Januarie’s sexual appetite for his new bride is manifested in his walled garden

  • It is designed to act as a “paradise” where he can do “thynges whiche that were nat doon abedde” (not done in bed)

  • Damian, described as an adder (a snake), tempts May (as Eve was tempted by Satan in the form of a snake)

• When Januarie and May are in his garden of paradise, Januarie is struck blind:

  • This could allude to Adam’s ignorance in the Garden of Eden

  • However, the introduction of pagan gods at this point breaks from biblical allusions and refers back to cosmic ideas of punishment 

• Chaucer conforms to the Biblical story by presenting the garden as a place where females find some agency:

  • May gives Damian a wax mould of the key, defying Januarie’s wish to “mould” her like “wax”

  • The key symbolises the key to her body, alluding to phallic imagery

• Other characters offer opposing views in order to question the nature of morality:

  • Justinus believes marriage is a commitment which should be taken seriously 

  • Placebo tells Januarie what he wants to hear for personal gain 

  • This is because Placebo’s name is Latin for “I shall please” and his words highlight Januarie’s vanity and ignorance

What is Chaucer’s intention?

• The Merchant’s Tale offers opposing ideas related to morality and religion

• It raises questions about religious influence on marital institutions:

  • Chaucer raises questions about the way in which the Church sought to regulate sexual conduct by equating marriage with virtue

• Chaucer presents an ironic Biblical allusion which presents the downfall of man within marriage

Gender

The patriarchal society of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales advocated that women should be silent, submissive, and denied any authority over a man. In The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, Chaucer refers to female stereotypes common at the time. However, his romantic fabliau is a cautionary fable which examines gender hypocrisies.

Knowledge and evidence:

• Societal attitudes to women can be found in literature of the time, such as the writings of St Jerome, which details the “wickedness of wives”:

  • This book is referred to elsewhere in The Canterbury Tales

• Ideas about wicked women are introduced immediately in The Merchant’s Prologue:

  • The Merchant mentions “the tresons whiche that wommen doon to man”

• However, Chaucer highlights gender hypocrisies in The Merchant’s Tale:

  • May contradicts Januarie’s description of women as deceitful: “but men been evere untrewe”

  • The Host also suggests mistrust among the men

• In The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, women are presented in contradictory ways, perhaps to challenge stereotypes:

  • At times, women are referred to as men’s punishment

  • Justinus warns Januarie about how young women could be his “purgatorie" 

  • The Host believes he is tied to and burdened by his marriage

• At other times, women are portrayed as bringing “bliss” to a man’s life and being necessary “helpers” of men

• Chaucer criticises imbalanced relationships between men and women, suggesting they are doomed to bring suffering and bitterness:

  • Chaucer presents Januarie’s ambitious desire to control May as ironic 

  • May steals the key to the garden which Januarie designs to keep her faithful

  • She makes a wax replica of the key, in contrast to Januarie’s desires to “mould” her like “wax” 

• Depictions of unfaithful and disrespectful women are typical in a fabliau: a comic, bawdy tale with a plot that usually involves a cuckolded husband:

  • Chaucer portrays May as enthusiastic about her sexuality: “gan pullen up the smok, and in he throng”

  • In this way, Chaucer’s depiction of women as lustful individuals challenges the romantic stereotype of virginal ladies waiting for a knight to rescue them

• Chaucer satirises gender stereotypes often found in romantic tales:

  • Conventionally, the hero fights to win the praise of his virtuous lady

  • The motives of the knight pursuing his love are chivalrous and noble

  • Januarie, a knight, and May, a conventional damsel in distress, subvert the gender stereotypes found within courtly romance:

    • Januarie is weak, old and ineffective at satisfying his lady

    • May defies her husband and engages in an affair with someone less powerful

• May’s successful cuckolding of Januarie leaves the tale with a comic, yet sinister ending:

  • The poem’s epilogue suggests the pilgrims view women as dangerous and not to be trusted 

  • That May is not held to account for her infidelity leads the pilgrims to grimly conclude that unfaithful and disobedient women are to be avoided

What is Chaucer’s intention?

• Chaucer highlights power imbalances in society, particularly between man and wife

• He highlights the potentially damaging consequences of, and hypocrisies within, hierarchical patriarchal systems 

• Chaucer shows the futility of attempting to maintain control of a wife despite societal expectations

Marriage and love

The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale is one of the Canterbury Tales which explore marriage. In the tales, Chaucer depicts marriage as a means to social conformity and progression. Chaucer highlights imbalances within courtly codes of conduct, which lead, he implies, to inevitable misery. 

Knowledge and evidence:

• The Merchant’s Prologue introduces the idea that a good wife is obedient and submissive:

  • The Host mentions his wife who is a “shrewe” in every way

  • The word “shrewe” refers to a bad-tempered wife

  • He adds, “Ther is a long and large difference/Bitwix Grisildis grete patience” and his cruel wife

  • Grisildis is the obedient wife in The Clerk’s Tale

  • This highlights the expectations of the time: that a good wife is to be patient

• Chaucer’s tale presents the pilgrims’ attitude to marriage: it is sorrowful, bringing bitter resentment: 

  • The Merchant describes “Wepyng and waylyng, care and oother sorwe”

  • The Merchant is disillusioned by marriage after only two months

• When the Merchant begins his tale, however, the old knight, Januarie, has idealistic views on marriage:

  • He details the glories of marriage

  • He declares it is God’s will for a man to marry

  • He discusses the benefits of marriage to an obedient wife

• Nevertheless, this superficial marriage begins problematically, presenting the fable as a warning:

  • Chaucer foreshadows problems by describing Januarie’s age and May’s youth 

• The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale highlights attitudes of the time which saw marriage as a social contract which continued the family legacy and bloodline:

  • This can be seen in Januarie’s sudden wish for an heir, aged sixty

• Chaucer highlights Januarie’s superficiality when choosing a wife:

  • He pictures his ideal wife: “hir fresshe beautee and hir age tender, hir middle small, hir armes longe and sklendre.”

• The Merchant’s Tale refers repeatedly to the idea of blindness and ignorance as a result of love:

  • Januarie “banished all the others from his heart/He chose her on his own authority/For love is always blind and cannot see"

  • Her betrayal of him and his subsequent blindness highlight the notion of love as superficial

• It can be argued that the love between Damian and May is presented as genuine:

  • However, their love-making is shown crudely

  • Damian’s love is presented as melodramatic and perhaps fleeting

• Chaucer points out in The Merchant’s Tale that neither of the spouses consider each other and this leads to a dysfunctional relationship:

  • Januarie’s motives for marriage are dubious and his love for May is described as purely physical and functional

  • May’s dissatisfaction with Januarie’s love-making leads her astray

  • The young wife shows no respect for her husband who is both old and blind

• The introduction of the gods who intervene in their marriage and the subsequent affair adds a fatalistic element to the tale:

  • This contributes to the final conclusion on marriage as a doomed enterprise

  • The resolution of The Merchant’s Tale suggests unhappy marriage is inevitable if it is imbalanced or with an unfaithful woman

• The Host concludes the tale, lamenting his marriage:

  • He says he is tied to an unhappy marriage

  • Chaucer exemplifies marriage as an inevitable punishment for men

What is Chaucer’s intention?

• The poem criticises any marriage which is based on social or personal gain

• Chaucer highlights delusions within courtly romantic traditions

• Chaucer explores bitterness as a result of unhappy marriage

• The poem raises questions about patriarchal codes of conduct which encourage imbalanced power dynamics in marriage

Fate

Chaucer’s poem employs pagan references and powerful gods who interfere with the character’s relationships. Chaucer’s references to astrology imply, perhaps, that romantic events are guided by a supernatural force. As the characters are manipulated and led towards an unresolved resolution, Chaucer suggests the futility of humans’ actions, and alludes to fatalism and destiny.

Knowledge and evidence:

• In the Merchant’s Tale, Chaucer refers to the presence of the god of love, Venus and the gods of pleasure, Bacchus and Hymen, at the wedding of Januarie and May:

  • Perhaps this can be seen as Chaucer’s ironic use of pagan symbolism to hint at supernatural intervention

• Chaucer introduces the idea of astrology to highlight the theme of fate:

  • At the wedding “The moone … In two of Tawr, was into Cancre gliden”

  • Here, Chaucer mentions the zodiac signs of Taurus and Cancer to foreshadow a fatal influence on the marriage

• The Merchant refers to the influence of astrology when he explains how Damian and May began their love affair:

  • He says, “Were it by destinee or aventure/Were it by influence or by nature,/Or constellacion”

• Damian’s love for May is influenced by the gods:

  • Venus “hurt him with hire brond” 

  • He falls in love so deeply with May he falls ill: he feels he is to “dieth for desir”

• The name of the main character, Januarie, comes from the name of a Roman god, Janus, who was known to have carried keys which open up the future:

  • Janus is both old and young simultaneously

  • Januarie refers to himself as strong as a tree, despite his age

  • Januarie carries the keys to the garden in order to control their marriage

• Chaucer’s fabliau employs a senex amans: a jealous older man who marries a young beautiful woman:

  • This is conventionally used in fabliaux to mock the fatalistic delusions of characters like Januarie

• The poem depicts a conversation between the omniscient Greek god Pluto and his wife, Proserpina:

  • Through this “married” couple, Chaucer continues the theme of fate and marriage

• Proserpina supports May and helps her come up with an excuse for being in the tree with Damian:

  • In this way she alters the course of May’s fate by helping her to convince Januarie he has not seen the affair

• Pluto, however, supports Januarie and restores his sight so he can see the truth

• Both gods influence the course of the marriage significantly, introducing the theme of fate and the futility of man

What is Chaucer’s intention?

• Chaucer explores human autonomy in relation to more powerful supernatural forces

• Chaucer depicts how societal constructs can lead to fatalistic behaviour 

• The poem considers fate in terms of punishment for sin