The Merchant's Tale Analysis

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, he introduces a character known as the Wife of Bath. It is her turn to tell the stories, and her tale begins discussing her past marriages in the prologue. Married five times, the Wife of Bath tells us about her own marital issues, and the way she was able to manipulate the gender roles to her own advantage. As interesting of a character as she is, I find Chaucer created the Wife of Bath to deliberately introduce the issues gender roles play in our society. I believe that the role the of the Wife of Bath in the tale was purposely written by Chaucer to twist the traditional gender roles of the time, satirizing how gender plays in society.

The merchant claims that he knows nothing of long-suffering wives. Rather, if his wife were to marry the devil, she would overmatch even him. The Merchant claims that there is a great difference between Griselde's exceptional obedience and his wife's more common cruelty. The Merchant has been married two months and has loathed every minute of it. The Host asks the Merchant to tell a tale of his horrid wife.

Within the tale that the Wife of Bath creates, Chaucer’s opinions shine through in the dialogue of the women. In a time period where women

Early British writing like The Canterbury’s Tale section of “The Merchant’s Tale” written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, reflect on social values. Much of the tale speaks about a marriage that over flows of vices. Societies vision of how marriages should work, display the vices of holy matrimony. The corruptness of societies views on marriage lead to a loveless marriage. Chaucer reflects on how much societies views influenced marriages in the 1300’s; he shows this by using conflicts in marriage of man verses himself, women versus herself, and man versus women.

Alison in the Miller's Tale and May of the Merchant's Tale are similar in several ways. Both are young women who have married men much older than themselves. They both become involved with young, manipulative men. They also conspire to and do cuckold their husbands. This is not what marriage is about and it is demonstrated in both tales. What makes the Miller's Tale bawdy comedy and the Merchant's tale bitter satire is in the characterization. In the Miller's tale we are giving stereotyped characters. The principals are cardboard cut-outs sent into farcical motion. The Merchant's Tale gives us much more background and detail of the character's lives. The reader is more involved and can

A relationship is usually seen between the teller of a tale and the tale that he or she decides to share. Chaucer’s pilgrim, the Merchant, uses his feelings on marriage to teach a lesson in his tale. The Wife of Bathe also relies on her life experience to tell her tale. The two relationships in the tales can then be compared.

     During the time period in which Chaucer wrote The Wife of Bath women were most commonly seen as prizes won by men. They were treated merely as objects of housework and sex. Although, women of Homer’s time period were not degraded as severely, both periods did not allow the due respect women should have received. The Wife of Bath is an exact antithesis of this view. The Wife of Bath, known as Alison, is the complete opposite of the typical woman of that time. In fact, she acts more like the husband in the marriage. She tells stories of how her first three husbands suffered greatly at her hands. Alison also goes on to describe how

The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer around 1386, is a collection of tale told by pilgrims on a religious pilgrimage. Two of these tales, "The Knight's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale", involve different kinds of love and different love relationships. Some of the loves are based on nobility, some are forced, and some are based on mutual respect for each partner. My idea of love is one that combines aspects from each of the tales told in The Canterbury Tales.

     In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales, many stories are told leading to a wide range of topics.  One particular and significant topic Chaucer touches on many times is the role of women.  In stories such as The Millers Tale, The Knight's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale the women of each story are portrayed extremely different.  Alisoun, Emelye, and the wife of Bath, each exemplify three dissimilar ways in which women love.  The way Chaucer describes each of these characters is dependent on the out come of each particular story.  Chaucer is careful with his word choice and figurative language with each woman, enabling the reader to get a very visual and sometimes

THE CANTERBURY TALES Geoffrey Chaucer THE MERCHANT ’S TALE  Once there was, dwelling in Lombardy, a worthy knight, January, who had lived nobly for sixty years without a wife.

‘The Merchants Tale’s’ narrator is the Merchant who has been married for a little over two months. According to Stephanie A. Tolliver, critics have painted him as ‘a disillusioned man full of hatred and contempt’. His marriage is a disaster and therefore we are presented with a bitter view on the story of Januarie and May. The poem is a tale within a tale and we are given three perspectives in all. Chaucer, the poet, The Merchant the omniscient narrator and the protagonists Januarie, May and Damyan. The view of marriage presented in the tale is a very negative one with the wives being at fault. Many have called the tale to be anti- feminist and critics have discussed the negative presentation of May throughout the centuries. In ‘On Chesil Beach’ the relationship of a newlywed couple is represented through the use of the third person. Both Florence and Edward believed that the promise of marriage would bring them what they most desired, ‘Their marriage, they

Having five husbands helps her gain experience. Marrying five men is her “schooling” because while men are working hard, she is getting better at pleasuring them from experience (Chaucer 49). The only satisfaction she has is from pleasing her husband. Chaucer highlights the conflicts of the time and offers a new perspective on gender roles from a different perspective. The wife is taking control over the husband by seducing him. According to the role of women during the Middle Ages, women must remain loyal to their husbands, however, the Wife of Bath, “put little value of their love.” (Chaucer 208). The Wife of Bath cares about the amount of wealth she obtains from her husbands. Her marriages did not revolve around the idea of love. Chaucer characterizes the Wife of Bath as promiscuous; she uses her sexuality to control her husbands. Chaucer incorporates many values to characterize society. Women from the Middle Ages wanted control over their husbands, they demanded whatever they wanted. The husband was still loyal to the women after he was getting controlled. Chaucer forms a character who respects the religious belief but in the same way opposes them.

“The millers Tale, is a tale of humor that involves four characters who all search for love in the wrong placer and learn form their mistakes. The tale begins at the house of the carpenter John who is an aged man. Who marries a young girl named Alison who is only eighteen-years old. Chaucer intentionally does this to show that the age difference is a power to be reckoned with. Chaucer himself describes the contrast of age when he says, “She was a girl of eighteen years of age. Jealous he was and kept her in a cage, for he was old and she was wild an young; he thought himself quiet likely to be stung.” Chaucer perfectly describes the youth and its effect upon the character. The other character Nicholas the Galland, is described by Chaucer as, “This lad was know as Nicholas the Galland, and making love in secret was his talent, for he was very close and sly, and took advantage of his meek and girlish look.” Chaucer her foreshadows the relation ship between the two young characters by describing their flaws such as youth and beauty in Alison and Slyness in Nicholas. The other character Absolon is also a young ambitious character who wants to get Alison at any cost an is described by Chaucer as, “Absalon was a

The Wife of Bath’s Tales is about how the wife tells about her life and her experiences. She’s had five husbands; this makes her an expert at juggling more than one man. “The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Summary and Analysis the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. Web. 6 Apr. 2015< http://www.diffsnotes.com./Literature/c/

People tell lies all the time, and Chaucer’s characters are no exception. Lying is one of the various methods his characters use to obtain their objectives. In “The Miller’s Tale”, Nicholas is the astrology student who is residing with the married couple, Alison and John. Despite her marriage, Nicholas desperately wants to be with Alison. With a little coaxing, Alison is on board, and they plan to lie to John so they can sneak away together. Alison and Nicholas’s plan begins with Nicholas lying to her husband. Nicholas’ scholarly reputation makes it easy for John to believe him, as “a scholar doesn’t have to stir his wits so much to trick a carpenter” (165). John is in great fear and awe when he is told that soon the “rain is to fall in torrents, such a scud, it will be twice as bad as Noah’s Flood” (191). Alison further pursues their plan by also lying to her husband. Though she knows he is hiding out