Context

Question 1

What are the characteristics of anti-feminism in terms of female nature?

Answer 1

Excessively emotional, deficient in reason, clever in a devious way, excessively sexual, physically weak, and passive.

This perspective often portrays women as manipulative and resentful.

Question 2

How do anti-feminist stereotypes affect women’s behavior according to the text?

Answer 2

They lead women to use manipulation and nagging to achieve their goals due to a lack of direct power.

This reflects a perception of women relying on indirect methods to exert influence.

Question 3

What is the clerical aspect of anti-feminism?

Answer 3

The church’s effort to encourage a celibate priesthood to resist the charm and wiles of women.

This highlights a religious dimension in combating perceived feminine influence.

Question 4

What does the institutional aspect of anti-feminism involve?

Answer 4

Anti-feminist stereotypes justified and preserved the status quo.

This suggests that societal structures benefit from maintaining traditional gender roles.

Question 5

What was the typical age for marriage for girls and boys?

Answer 5

12 for girls and 14 for boys.

This reflects historical norms regarding marriage and gender roles.

Question 6

What legal status did marriage confer upon women?

Answer 6

Subordinate legal status, with husbands exercising almost exclusive power over property.

This indicates a significant imbalance in marital rights and responsibilities.

Question 7

What was Chaucer’s father’s occupation?

Answer 7

Prosperous wine merchant

Question 8

What position did Chaucer gain in a royal household?

Answer 8

Page

Question 9

What was the status of merchants during Chaucer’s time?

Answer 9

Thrived and grew in status due to the slow decline of feudalism

Question 10

What was a common practice among medieval authors regarding storytelling?

Answer 10

Drew creatively on existing material

Question 11

How did Chaucer adapt old stories?

Answer 11

Creatively adapting them to fit different narrative contexts and voices

Question 12

What do the pilgrims in Chaucer’s work represent?

Answer 12

A wide cross-section of contemporary society

Question 13

Are the pilgrims in Chaucer’s work ordered or varied?

Answer 13

Variety of medieval people defined by occupation or way of life

Question 14

What were knights expected to uphold?

Answer 14

Chivalry, loyalty, and protect the realm

Question 15

By Chaucer’s time, what were many knights more concerned with?

Answer 15

Wealth rather than military service

Question 16

What was beginning to decline during Chaucer’s time?

Answer 16

Feudalism

Question 17

What class was emerging as feudalism declined?

Answer 17

A new merchant class

Question 18

How is the knightly class depicted in Chaucer’s works?

Answer 18

Outdated and foolish, relying on wealth rather than true chivalric virtue

Question 19

Who is an example of the lower class undermining the knight?

Answer 19

Damyan, reflects shifting power dynamics

Question 20

What does the decline of feudalism reflect?

Answer 20

Growing social anxieties in a changing society

Question 21

Fill in the blank: Knights were expected to protect the realm, but many were more concerned with _______.

Answer 21

wealth

Question 22

True or False: The merchant class gained wealth through land ownership.

Answer 22

False

Question 23

Merchant’s personal ____ affects the way he tells the tale, making it more cynical and exaggerated.

Answer 23

bias

Question 24

Courtly love was characterized by an _______, ________, and often ____________ love between a nobleman and a lady. It emerged from the chivalric tradition. It usually involved a knight and a lady of high status.

Answer 24

a. idealized, secret, and often unattainable love

Question 25

A fabliau is a type of medieval comic tale characterized by bawdy _______, sexual ______, social satire, and c__________. In classic fabliaux, women are often the more intelligent, resourceful characters who deceive their husbands.

Answer 25

a. humor b. deception c. clever trickery

Question 26

What is an example of how May's adultery links to fabliaux ideals?

Answer 26

the pear tree is both crude and comical, fitting the fabliau’s physical, undignified humor. Damyan, a lowly squire, cuckolds January, a wealthy knight—a clear example of how fabliaux undermine social hierarchies

Question 27

What are the 3 estates?

Answer 27

These three estates were simple: those who prayed (the clergy, or other church affiliates), those who fought (soldiers and knights), and those who labored (the peasantry, or working class).

Question 28

The fourteenth century was a time of major social upheaval which challenged the traditional ‘three estates’ model. What were these events?

Answer 28

> The Black Death (1347-9): Ordinary people are able to bargain for wages. This created a new middle class of artisans and merchants, > The Peasants’ Revolt (1381) was the culmination of underlying socio-political tensions – The Labour shortage after the Black Death meant many lords had given the peasants on their estates their freedom and paid them to work on their land.

Question 29

women in medieval literature: 'The Trickster'

Answer 29

> women in medieval literature commonly assume the trickster trope; this has its roots in the old testament of the bible

Question 30

What does Hathways "like Pygmalion" and what quote does it relate to?

Answer 30

Quote: warm wex - Januarie - classical mythological figure -> januarie ignores the humanity of May by objectifying and controlling her and emphasises his delusion

Question 31

What is the romance of the rose and how is it connected to merchants tale?

Answer 31

> very popular medieval allegorical poem > Januarie creates a private walled garden — like the "Garden of Love" in The Romance of the Rose -> This reflects the idea of love as possession and also sexual conquest > Jean de Meun’s section is full of anti-feminist trope, this is echoed in how Januarie views women and the Merchant narrator's bitter, misogynistic tone. > Both texts undercut idealised views of love.

Question 32

Attitudes toward marriage: what influenced this?

Answer 32

The teaching of St Paul and medieval canon law influenced attitudes to marriage in the Middle Ages. > marriage as means of legitimating sex, avoiding lust and going to Hell. > St Paul also created the ‘marital or conjugal debt’, the mutual obligation of both husband and wife to have sex when requested by their spouse,

Question 33

What roman god could januarie's name be alluding to?

Answer 33

Janus - Roman God -> His depiction is often as both old and young simultaneously -> Januarie, who thinks himself to be young and in the full flush of youth, whilst we, and May, see the senex amans who is concerned to keep his young wife to himself > This Roman god was known as a gatekeeper, sometimes thought to carry a set of keys ->

Question 34

The Garden of Love

Answer 34

is a central motif of courtly romance - all activities are chaste and, in keeping with courtly romance, and their love is not consummated

Question 35

The Garden of Lust

Answer 35

Januarie’s garden, like other romance features of The Merchant’s Tale, becomes modified by fabliau. The garden of romance is transformed from an idyllic paradise into site of adultery