Quotes Flashcards
This shows Merchant’s extreme dissatisfaction with his wife, illustrating her perceived wickedness, disillusionment from marriage, making a universal truth, lacks authority, unsubstantiated, deceptive and manipulative nature of women
“For thogh the feend to hire ycoupled were, / She wolde him overmacche, I dar wel swere.
Biblical imagery: January’s idealized view of marriage, commodification of women, ironic undermining of naive view, extualing perfection of wife, owned, property controlled
wyf the fruit of his tresor
allusion to Venus (Roman goddess of love). Fire met - overwhelming, consuming nature of Damyan’s passion, emphasizing its intensity and danger - extremity of his emotions, presenting him as the archetypal courtly lover who suffers physically and emotionally for unrequited love.
Damyan in Venus fyr / So brenneth that he dyeth for desir.
January’s self-delusion, comparing himself to a tree to assert his continued vitality despite his old age. proleptic imagery, - virile, age not a constraint - fruitful, sexually potent, amplified view of self and abilities
“Though I be hoor, I fare as dooth a tree.”
‘Woman is for mannes help wrought’ -
medieval expectations of subservience and docility in women, biblical imagery: adam and eve, male domination and control. Chaucer employs irony through Januarie’s naive belief.
marriage = blissful, wholesome, paradise, biblical imagery adam and eve, natural/original state, ironic, trust in eve will be betrayed, eden = idyllic state/perfect union sanctified by god. (pre-lapsarian)
‘paradis’
Januarie uses religion to facilitate his desire, morally misguided, marriage avoids divine punishment
‘for in our actes we mowe do no sinne’
Possessive pronoun - ownership, commodification/ objectification, biblical imagery, compatibility- state/perfect union sanctified by god, innocence, purity
His fresshe May, his paradis, his make
possession, control, (total ownership), blurring pleasure with holiness - physical posses.
‘Her mighte han hire al’
control/dominance, proleptic irony, simile - moulding, young - manipulate, pliable, trained
‘Warm wex with handes plye’
possession, objectification - lacks emotional investment, transactional, juxtaposes marriage cermonony
‘She was feffed in his lond’
arduous nature of marriage, parallels merchant, expense, suffering associated with marriage, juxtaposes Januarie’s naive view
‘I finde in but cost and care
sense of predictability in marriage, personal attributes and experiences, dometic, discomfort in marriage
‘I woot best where wringesth me my sho’
marriage gods weapon of punishment, reality, marriage may cause sufficient suffering - purged, god sanctioned bliss juxt by god sanctioned punishment
‘She may be your purgatorie’
irony, sycophantic, dismisses religious authoritee, obsequious lang
I holde you’re owne conseil is the beste’
semantic pejoration meaning of word becomes negative, subverting definition of honour, high status
Worthy knight’
mental mirror - enjoying reflections (superficial imager) -, transactional view of marriage, commercial, physical value
‘Mirour,polisshed bright,/commune market place’
hyperbolic dismissal, blithe, invective way of engaging with authority, baseless dismissal, ironic - merchant trying to make januarie’s view unconvincing
Writeth this man, ther God his bones corse’
plosive and sibilance - evokes a sendr of fear, frozen, emotionally frozen and physically, submissive
‘stille as a stoon’,
mythological reference to cupid, proleptic irony - juxtaposed by Januaries commodification, moral blindness/ blind to reality
‘For Love is blind alday, and may nat see’
morally misguided januarie, viewing as a path to easy, carefree, holy sanctified way,
‘to lede in ese and hooliness his lyf’
marriage is heaven on earth cannot gain eternal life in real heaven - sustained irony, naive
‘in erthe and eek in heaven’
commodify, predatorial, dehumanisation, ownership, adj - young, innocence, sexual desire to consumer wholly.
‘tendre veel/creature’
phallic imagery, violent, harmful depiction, comic delusion
‘corage … so sharp and keene’
lustful desire, intoxicated by desire, blind to actions, prol iron
‘Droken in plesaunce’
suffering/pain of intense love - fantasy, true pain of love, becoming almost mad
‘verray peyne he was ny wood
ironic undermining of the marriage, courtly love with Damyien, letter lacks value - scatological undermining of the passion of courtly love
privee softely … /secrely that no wight of it wiste’ (67)
- Januarie’s view of Damyien shows his foolishness and short-sightedness, subversion of traits deemed good for squire as harnessed for deception, ironic, metaphorically blind to damyien’s deception.
‘gentil squire by my trouthe’ , ‘wys, discreet’
damning indictment/reveal, undermines all his actions, not affected, doing what she is contracted to do
‘She preyseth nat his pleying worth a bene
status difference, deceptions Damyien lusts for May - appears servile, animal imagery - sexual appetite for may, ‘dog’ - often a symbol for loyalty becomes a symbol of deception, app vs reality
dide a dogge for the bowe’
although May appears obedient and submissive she is deceptive. both seductive and treacherous, May as a figure of moral corruption, The scorpion metaphor - medieval antifeminism = women as duplicitous and untrustworthy,
‘scorpion so deceyvable’
animal imagery - commodifying, meat of greatest quality, juicy tender - consumption,
‘Old boef is the tendre veel
brash, lack of emotional depth, a job/duty, not an affectionate intimacy, januarie’s age restricts him, unpleasant, prolonged image, satrical comedy, self- amplified view of self, virility and strength.
Ther is no werkmen … wol ve doon at leyser parfitly’
(personified winter) Tina Davidson
The personified force of winter attempts to repress the resurgent spring. Needless to say, winter always fails”
canrivorous,brutal fish, violent, territorial - ironic, undermining of oneself
pyk
Tina Davidson
“By letting May off the hook, Chaucer shows the inevitability of youths victory over age”
John Thorne
January’s bending of religious authority to his own selfish purposes leaves religion untouched but adds to our sense of his delusion and error’
‘January shops for his bride’
Stephanie A. Tolliver
- Donaldson
“Marriage in The Merchant’s Tale is presented as a commercial transaction, stripped of idealism and reduced to the basest self-interest.”
- Mann
“Chaucer’s use of fabliau and irony transforms what might have been a simple moral tale into a complex critique of human folly.”
Pearsall
“The Merchant’s Tale undermines the clerical ideal of marriage by exposing the gap between theory and practice.” -
ironic subversion of desire and wedding night, subverts sexual prowess
‘T’encressen his courage’
May lowering herself, unconventional as ‘lady of the house’, within the intimate setting of his room - is position as a lovesick, bed-bound figure reinforcing the idea that his passion has physically overwhelmed him, serves as a vehicle for deceit and betrayal
‘Beddes side sit she than/comfortinge him’
Januarie’s insistence on a young wife reflects his desire for control and his illusion that youth guarantees obedience and satisfaction, delusions regarding his own vitality and sexual prowess, and ironic undermining of his religious arguments for marriage.
“She shal nat passe twenty yeer”
diminishes philosophy, exclamative, januarie dismissing authority, naive
‘Straw for they senek and thy proverbs!
‘I woot wel that my lord kan moore than I’
through sycophantic, ironic: emphasizing januarie as naive, ‘lord’ - elevated status, never contradicts
harsh, sandpaper beard - rough and sharp ironically undercut his attempts for care and affectionate, animal imagery - primal, aggressive, natural imagery - abrasive
Lyk to the skin of houndfissh, sharp as brere’
views actions as harmful and aggressive, legal term - criminality of behaviour
yow greetly offende
tender, excited januarie, affectionate, compassionate
‘he taketh hire, and kisseth hire ful ofte’
power difference between wife and husband, januarue knight - parody or romantic love
‘he seyde, han som plesaunce’
The garden is an allegorical space that echoes the Garden of Eden. It serves as a setting for deception and betrayal, just as the biblical Eden was the site of humanity’s fall. Januarie’s attempt to enclose and possess May. idealized retreat for Januarie and May, symbolizing his delusion of marital bliss. However, it ironically becomes the stage for May’s infidelity with Damyan.
“a gardyn, walled al with stoon”
‘he wepth and he waileth … the fyr of jalousie’ (line 859)
- parallels merchants prologue - torturous imagery of hell
- fire imagery symbolises the anti-feminist ideas of suffering in marriage as a result of the deceptive nature of women
- January’s excessive lamentation can be seen as both pathetic and ironic
- the metaphor of fire illustrates jealousy as a destructive, consuming force - however, the Merchant’s cynical tone encourages the audience to mock Januarie rather than sympathize with him.
‘but ever live as widwe in clothes blake/soul as the turtle that lost hath hire make’
- extreme possessiveness - control in life and also posthumous control over her.
- (turtledove) is a common medieval symbol of fidelity, as turtledoves were believed to mate for life - embody absolute loyalty
- Dramatic Irony: this expectation contrasts sharply with the plot, as May, his young wife, is neither faithful nor devoted
'’or elles she moot than him as hir leste’
- subverting ideals of innocence and naivety - ironic -not a grand passion, lust driven, hyperbole - presenting passionate, love relationship.
- Chaucer’s satire of marriage is evident here. Januarie, convinced that he controls May, is in reality blind (both literally and metaphorically) to her actions.
For as good is blind deceyved be/ as to be deceyved,whan a man may se.
- spoken by the narrator, reflecting on Januarie’s blindness
- lamenting Apostrophe - inevitability - irony of situation
- naive - metaphorically blind
‘warm wex had emprented the clicket/ .. small wicket’
- Wax as a Symbol of Male Control: reflects his belief that he can shape May into an obedient and submissive wife - ironic subversion
- The key represents male authority and penetration, while the gate symbolizes female sexuality. By taking the key and making a wax impression, May metaphorically and literally takes control of her own sexual autonomy.
- ingenuity and deceit of women - anti-feminist ideals
‘my wyf, my love, my lady free/ .. my dowves sweere’’
- triplet - used to intensify and emphasise his hyperbolic declaration of love
- repetition of ‘my’ - possessive language
- ‘lady free’ - ironic - seeks to control and imprison her, both physically (within his walled garden) and metaphorically (through marriage).
- dove - symbol of fidelity - proleptically ironic and depicts May’s capacity for deception and emphasise Januarie as naive senex figure
‘The winter is goon with alle he reynes weete’
- suggests a transition into spring
- January as symbolic of winter - ironic, unwitting celebration of winter’s gone
‘Forbere to been out of you’re compaignye/ for verray love’
- January’s love is possessive - surface level and transactional
- ironic: he believes his love is reciprocated, but in reality, his marriage is built on illusion.
- viewing relationship as true love - ironic,
