For the thinksheet on the Merchant's Tale on Tues, pls answer quetsion 10.
For the thinksheet for the Franklin on Thurs., please answer question 6.
Merchant’s Tale
1. What does the Merchant have to say
about the institution of marriage in his Prologue? How does he characterize his wife?
2. What are the views of the Knight in the
tale, January, on marriage? Why
does he decide to take a wife at age 60 and what were his views prior to this
time? What, according to his
views, are the attributes and purpose of a wife? What, in lines, 1415-1468, is he looking for in a wife?
3. What does the Knight have to say about
Theophrastus? (See lines
1293-1310). How does this detail
relate to the Wife’s Prologue?
4. What advice do Placebo and Justinus give? What might they stand for? What is the significance of their names?
5. How would you characterize the style of
this tale? What sorts of features
does it have? How does it compare
to the other tales we’ve read?
6. Look at the description of the wedding night
in lines 1818-1865. How are
January and May described? How
would you describe the tone and use of detail here? What is life like for May?
6. Who is Damyan? How does he compare to other lovers we
have seen? Palamon and Arcite? Hende Nicholas and Absolom?
8. How do the gods function in this
tale? How do they compare to the
gods in the Knight’s Tale?
9.
Look at the Merchant’s Epilogue. What type of wife does the Host have? How does his contribution add to the
“marriage group?” How
does the “marriage group” develop?
10.
Line 1597 reads “ love is blynd alday and may not see” and there are multiple references to trees in the tale, see
for example, lines 1461-1466 and line 1641. How do these two motifs function in the tale?
Franklin
1. What is the relationship between Dorigen and her husband, Averagus? What type of marriage do they have?
2. How does Dorigen come to make her promise to Aurelius? What does she promise?
3.What
is a Franklin? What is the
relationship between teller and tale?
4.How
is this tale part of the “marriage group”? How does it “quit” earlier tales?
5.What
is “gentilesse”? How is it defined in the Franklin’s tale, the Wife of Bath’s
Tale, the lyric by Chaucer?
6.The
Franklin asks which of the characters in the story is the most “free” or
generous? (line 1622). What do you think? Back up your argument with specific
details from the text.