The Merchants Tale - AO5

Question 1

Why does Januarie want to marry

Answer 1

So he “will be able to satisfy his lust regularly” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 2

How is Januarie using religion

Answer 2

“January is using religion as an attempted disguise for his lecherous intent” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 3

Importance of:
“Thus seyde this olde knyght, that was so wys”

Answer 3

2 hints by the narrator that Januarie is a fool
(Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 4

Januarie’s reasons for marriage - The Merchant

Answer 4

“but the Merchant makes it abundantly clear that this old and lecherous knight knows nothing of the more admirable reasons for a marriage” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 5

Placebo and Justinus - allegorical names

Answer 5

Placebo –> “Placebo means I shall please”
he is a “sycophantic courtier” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Justinus –> “Justinus, whose name means the just man”
“Only clear-thinking individual in the whole story”
“sharp contrast with the Merchant himself, as well as
January” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 6

May’s deceit

Answer 6

“May’s mercenary intent”
- She is exploiting the system so that when he dies she inherits everything (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 7

Januarie’s folly in the bedroom

Answer 7

Januarie feels sorry for May as he believes he is a dominant force in the bedroom but he actually struggles (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 8

Consummation of the marriage

Answer 8

“Nowhere in the tale is the atmosphere more nauseatingly unpleasant” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 9

Lumiansky - mocking courtly love

Answer 9

“Damian, sick unto death with love for her” (Lumiansky, 1955)

Question 10

Coopgredients

Cooper - what is ‘TMT’

Answer 10

“a fabliau, with the standard ingredients of adultery and the tricking of authority” (Cooper, 1996)

Question 11

Cooper - January’s refusal to see

Answer 11

“from the very first lines of the tale onwards, January’s wilful refusal to see clearly is made to seem inevitable” (Cooper, 1996)

Question 12

Ruddinvestment

Answer 12

“May, as a young wife is the ageing Januarie’s most valuable investment” (Rudd, 2000)

Question 13

transAERctions

Answer 13

“marriages in the middle and upper social groups were transactions” (David Aers)

Question 14

Kraippetite

Answer 14

“The tale portrays May as a female body full of appetite and sexual desire” (Kraishan, 2013)

Question 15

Tollissession

Answer 15

“January will never be able to see May’s adultery as he only perceives her as his possession” (Tolliver)

Question 16

Murray - slave

Answer 16

“January wants a sex slave” (Murray)

Question 17

Murray - deceit

Answer 17

“The story aims to show the deceitfulness of women” (Murray)

Question 18

Aers - desirable

Answer 18

“Women are reduced to desirable commodities” (Aers)