Merchant's Tale Essay

Julie Rowland Mrs. Toppin English IV 10/6/14 Marriage in “The Merchant’s Tale” 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

Relationship between Teller and Tale in The Merchant’s Tale and The Wife of Bathe 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. In his prologue, the Merchant recounts how he despises being married

throughout the past years. Marriages end in cheating and separation frequently, so much that the United States has become accustomed to it, but does it have to be this way? Canterbury Tales is a collection of tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer that were told by traveling pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. The tales are told by people of varying occupations and social status, and focus on different morals, one of the most prevalent being the roles of husbands and wives in marriage. By juxtaposing

the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer states his opinions on many different and controversial topics using the format of tales. His tales include themes of rape, love, betrayal, family and a slight dash of gastric distress. It is often unclear as to where his true opinions reside, and many scholars and historians have debated as to whether or not he was a progressive as he lets on in his stories. However, some patterns align themselves throughout his works. In Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, Chaucer makes

strength of such ties, the alterations made to an original source are very potent cues as to authorial intention. In composing The Canterbury Tales, there is a broad diversity of tales told by a wide range of narrators. This indicates that Chaucer likely used a wide variety of sources. The alterations made by Chaucer to the source material for the Clerk’s Tale, including Boccaccio’s Decameron X, or “The Story of Griselda,” indicate Chaucer’s motive to examine issues such as marriage as was found in

The Canterbury Tales: The Franklin vs. The Merchant In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a set of pilgrims have a story-telling competition while travelling to Canterbury to visit the the shrine of Saint Thomas-a-Becket. The Merchant and the Franklin both participate in this competition. The Merchant’s Tale is a response to a previous tale (The Clerk’s) and inspired by a personal experience. The Franklin’s Tale is a retelling of an older tale. The Merchant is the last person to tell a vulgar

to surprise and convey a specific purpose later on. Chaucer demonstrates this idea in The Canterbury Tales, specifically with the Merchant character. In the General Prologue, Chaucer portrays the Merchant as a respectable character; however, he hints aspects of the Merchants personality that question this respectable image. The Merchant’s entire personality is later revealed in his Prologue and Tale, as it is made evident of his cynical and pessimistic outlook, making him less respectful. In this

Canterbury Tales, he specifically illustrates through his pilgrims’ stories some comical and realistic events that display immorality in the Middle Ages. There are several characters whose stories are focused on presenting the immorality within their tales. Like that of “The Miller’s Tale,” and “The Merchant’s Tale.” Chaucer utilizes these tales to display one specific immoral act, which is sexual sin or lust. Chaucer addresses the seven deadly sins in his novel; The Canterbury Tales, lust can be

The Shipman’s Tale The Shipman’s Tale, one of the many tales in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, is exactly suited to the Shipman’s personality and profession as given in “The Prologue.” The shipman is described by Chaucer in the prologue as very sneaky, deceitful, and even pirate-like. The Shipman’s tale matches his personality and profession because The Shipman’s Tale is one of trickery and con. The monk in the tale tricks both the merchant and the merchant’s wife out of their money.

The structure and characters of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Shipman’s Tale warp the traditional in order to create a thriving network for exchange. Stylistically, this particular tale utilizes common conventions of the fabliau: sex, trickery, and poetic justice. That being said, The Shipman’s Tale is completely void of an overall moral message—a key element in the genre. Instead, there is a focus on the presence of male and female characters who work to fulfill an individual agenda, and on the “[exploration