A Review of Canterbury Tales: The Merchant's Tale

English writers for centuries have praised Chaucer for centuries. Whether it be Ben Johnson or William Blake, we find the influence of Geoffrey Chaucer in the greatest writers of English dramatist and poets.  

In the prologue to The Merchant's Tale the Merchant speaks of his admiration of Griselda as spoken of in The Clerk's Tale in contrast to many other wives. The host essentially asks the Merchant to tell a tale concerning the art of women. Indeed, no Griselda do we find in this tale; nay, in fact, the opposite. 

A worthy sixty year old knight that did live in Lombardy began to desire a wife. This old knight is spoken of as having wisdom. His name is January

The narrator speaks of the goodness of having a wife.

Here, we see an end to this tale. The young lovers commit sexual acts high in the tree before they fall to their doom. 

Interestingly enough, the text calls marriage a sacrament. This could be a factor in support of Chaucer being Roman Catholic rather than a Lollard after all. The institution of marriage as a sacrament was attacked during the sixteenth century by many of the protestant reformers but defended by the Roman Church and Henry VIII. I personally defended Matrimony as a sacrament in an early college essay that surprisingly was given a good grade by a non-Catholic source. More recently, I have considered more about the debate over the number of sacraments but have not yet been convinced of any less than seven. It is also interesting to mention though, that many Medieval theologians before the fifteenth century taught a multitude of sacraments, some as many as thirty. 

Returning to the text, Chaucer continues speaking of the glory of having a wife. It is as if Chaucer is setting us up for a fairy tale like story in which this noble knight wins the heart of a young woman. Nothing, could be further from the actual events to follow.

Chaucer recounts Biblical stories about several women and how they brought goodness to those around them. 

Lo, how that Jacob, as thise clerks rede,

By good conseil of his moder Rebekke,

Bond the kides skin aboute gis nekke;

Thurgh which his fadres benisoun he wan.

Chaucer speaks of your wife being the keeper of your household. He also implores husbands to love their wives.

One day, January. speaks to his friends. He insists he will not have an old wife but one no older than twenty years of age. He speaks of old wives knowing mischief-as if young ones don't know this also. 

May is the virgin that January chooses to wed. They go to church together. At their wedding feasts came many guests including the Roman goddess Venus* attend. 

Damian, a young squire of January, is not happy about the union of January and May as husband and wife. He begins to die in grief over her while writing a letter to express his feelings. She is given the letter by Damian while memorizing it word by word. 

January meanwhile, took his wife into a garden that only he had the key too. We are told that the gods had no greater garden and that even Pluto played there. A fruit fell from the gods in the Heavens that hits January and influences him into blindness. 

Several months go by and by this point January has come to live with his blindness. He ever kept a hand on his wife though.

Damian eventually got hold of the key and slipped into the garden the same day blind January and his wife entered. His wife asked for a pear and so climbs up into the tree where Damian awaits her. From the Heavens, January is given sight again and asks what is happening. May claims it is her that has given him sight again however. The tale ends shortly thereafter. 

In the epilogue to the tale, the host is thankful that he doesn't have a wife Like that. He also speaks of the naivety that men have towards the trickery of women. 

As to my personal thoughts, this story is kind of a strange one! None of the characters I found to be likable or honorable. This is probably one one of my lesser favorites of The Canterbury Tales. We have characters that all seem self centered. We also have a tale though that does seem to be a moral in its own which is what we desire will unfold its own consequences in our lives. If we desire lust for example, it will eventually destroy us. The consequences of sin may seem indifferent but it always comes back to haunt those that partake in it. 

On another note, the whole sexual activity in the tree was kind of weird! Usually, sin always has a way of hiding its own acts but sooner or later the truth will be known.

1 John 2: 26 tells us much in relation to the story as a whole. January, was either covetous or lustful-if not both. 

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the World. -1 John 2: 16



*Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The Greeks called her Aphrodite.