MerchantÕs Tale

Thinksheet

Please respond to question 10.

 

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 WifeÕs 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 weÕve 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 KnightÕs Tale? 

 

9. Look at the MerchantÕs Epilogue. What type of wife does the Host have?  How does his contribution add to the Òmarriage group?Ó    How does the Òmarriage groupÓ develop? 

 

10. Line 1597 reads Ò love is blynd alday and may not seeÓ 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?