Merchant's tale

by Geoffrey Chaucer

In the face of vociferous protestations from his friends, age-withered January selects a radiant young wife. His beloved—innocence embodied, to the untrained eye—wastes little time acquainting herself with his servants. Taking advantage of her husband’s blindness, she explores her carnal appetite with his footman, with little regard for dignity. Chaucer’s genius is to elevate her transgression to the level of gender politics; as deities intervene to decide the plight of future man and woman, the full import of January and May’s relationship is revealed.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, School, Fiction, Medieval, English Literature, Classic Literature

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1372

About the author

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

May is such a gaslighting girlboss

[Vaishali · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Strugle?" quod he, "Ye, algate in it wente!
God yeve yow bothe on shames deth to dyen!
He swyved thee; I saugh it with myne yen."

Modern translation:
"Struggle?" said he, "Yea, indeed in it went!
God give you both a shameful death to die!
He screwed thee; I saw it with my eyes."

And there you have it. "Screwed" is not crude American slang, but has been a part of the British lexicon since at least the medieval era :)


Harvard University's Chaucer translation site :
https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chauce...



.

[mia :•) · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretending you want a pear so you can cheat on your husband with another man in said pear tree... her mind

[Meg Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having to quote this literary text in an A-level exam is pure TORTURE, & the misogynistic views on women make me angry lol - hence the 1 star oops 😂.

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

No

[george ☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i can appreciate the literary merit, and i think some parts of this could be described as masterful BUT reading this gave me a headache and i hate januarie's guts

[emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favourite quote: “not worth a bean” - May

[Ellie Gale · Rating 1 out of 5]

never put yourself through this, it is not worth it

[Mikey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just feel like there are more discreet ways to cheat on your husband

[Izzy Northeast · Rating 1 out of 5]

the most painful read ever.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i would

[Bryce Behn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Merchant's Tale" was a good tale. I would recommend this to teens or adults ages 15 or older because of its comprehension level. January is the main character in the tale. He has been a single knight his whole life, until one day he decided to search for a wife. He was successful and married a young woman named May. January had some complications in his life, one being, he was blind. Because of this defect, one of his servants, Damian, takes advantage of it and has sexual relations with his wife. Since January is blind he does not know about their encounter, but by a miracle he regains his vision and catches them. January is upset but forgives May. This tale was great to read. I would love to read this tale again!

[Han ✾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

really entertaining to be fair

[isaac · Rating 3 out of 5]

may is the epitome of gaslight gatekeep girlboss

[Sean Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty funny and cleverly witty satirical poem about marriage.
I like the ability to approach it from the 'oh yes and this rhyme is clearly indicative of the outward misogyny of the Merchant, adding to the ambiguity in the effect and judgement of marriage' as well as the 'oh I see what you did there Mr Chaucer, you'.

The Middle English isn't too incomprehensible after you get the hang of it but reading aloud is definitely recommended (NOTE: except if you are on a bus or in a library, as I soon found out).

[kani · Rating 2 out of 5]

My English teacher is so passionate when teaching my class Chaucer. His passion is the reason why his lessons were fun, and why I didn’t mind studying The Merchant’s prologue and Tale. However, The tale itself was boring but humorous at times, maybe it was just the way my teacher taught the text. I have to say though, May is the definition of gaslighting and it was so amusing to read about. Also, I find it incredible how words like “outrageous” were used in the medieval times, even though it seems like a modern word.

[Hamish Critchley]

anything for u chau-sir

[sk · Rating 3 out of 5]

May was kinda real for that

[hails · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 star for may (girlbossery) 1 star for the pear tree

[suzy ;) · Rating 2 out of 5]

all of my a level english trauma can be traced back to this book 🥰

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

lowkey tea

[cecily · Rating 1 out of 5]

fawk ocr for making me read this

[em :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

ignorance is bliss🔥

[B]

It's like The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, and May did nothing wrong, I love her

[Kayleigh-Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing piece of medieval literature, glad I read it for my English Literature class.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a crazy story but thank the gods that's over...
To be fair though (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1XeV...) it wasn't too bad! Wasn't much of a fan of the creepy old man. Maybe I'll like it more after we analyse it in English, the only thing getting me through it at the moment is Proserpina and Pluto.

2nd read:
I do like it more after rereading and analysing it in English! Big fan of a marxist reading of this, Damyan and May shall top the legitimate! Still interested in the links between The Merchant and Chaucer in terms of misogamy + Justinus and how we are more coerced to side with him about women and marriage as literal purgatory and torture???
Also a big fan of May reclaiming her sexuality from Januarie at the end, fuck him! A nice feminist revenge fable.
Still loved the Proserpina and Pluto part even though it was 'Deus ex Machina' and kinda unsatisfying...

[Michael Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Merchant's Tale" is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." It is one of the longest stories, and focuses on the topic of marriage, portraying it in a very crude manner. This story begins with an old knight named January who marries a young girl named May, whom he barely knows. He is not the only one who thinks he loves her. His servant, Damian, also has his eye on May. I found this book incredibly boring to read, mostly because I don't like the older style of writing. I would not recommend it to anyone who dislikes that form of writing. I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates this older style of writing, and is interested in famous authors' writing.

[Loren Harway · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st Read: I never thought i'd read another one of these.
Unless you are full of praise for Chaucer i wouldn't recommend this. its difficult to translate unless you are adept at understand the middle (ynoght, whilom etc.).
don't get me wrong its a great tale with a substantial amount of humour for its time but my personal impression is that it isn't worth the effort: Chaucer has the tendency to write these 1000 word tales which can be summarised into a paragraph.

2nd Read: I take it all back. Great stuff. Love the symbolism.

[sheets · Rating 2 out of 5]

- Read it because... yet again it was compulsory due to my English Lit course. It was a fun poem to pick apart in my essays, but it was not one that I particularly enjoyed reading at all.

- Chaucer's 'The Merchant's Tale' showcases the worthy knight January and beautiful May's relationship through a fabliau of a senex amans. We also have a touch of philosophy and Greek mythology etc etc..., as well as the subvert of traditional tropes like knightly 'Courtly Love' that creates a more humorous poem.
- 2019/2020