Language and style

Question 1

Imagery

Answer 1

Food imagery is closely connected with sex - Januarie is presented as an Epicurean, devoting his life to the pursuit of physical pleasure
The references to the Garden of Eden are interwoven with allusions to the allegorical garden of courtly love in the Roman de la Rose
Januarie sees his young wife as pliable wax but it is Damyan who makes an impression on May
Key and keyholes are often associated with sex
The mirror suggests indirect and distorted vision (blindness) but also suggests the whole tale is a mirror causing a covert allusion about marriage

Question 2

Diction

Answer 2

Crafted to present the reader with affronting appositions thereby supporting the broader ironic techniques of the narrative. Diction is perverted to suit tone
TMT is Chaucer’s experiment in systematic disillusion which he characterises in the person of the Merchant.

Question 3

Speech

Answer 3

Placebo is a satirical portrait of the flatterer who listens attentively to what his superior says
The reader of the speeches is coloured by the manner which is the narrators voice functions - rhetorical questions
The specific relationship between the narrator and his characters consequent the tales tone
Direct speech gives the illusion that the reader is witnessing the actual word of the character, indirect speech or thoughts are mediated by the reporting narrator

Question 4

Narrative techniques

Answer 4

The specific and overriding techniques of TMT is irony
The pear plot is a fabliau - a literary genre characterised by fast-paced action
TMT is a stylistic hybrid
The plot being held up from time-time is a disgressio - a piece of fast-paced and down-to earth narrative
As the alliance shifts from debate to action the tale accelerates to its inevitable conclusion, the reader encounters the tales major structural joke