Sections Flashcards
(14 cards)
General Prologue
Merchants personal experiences
Introducing Januarie
Comparing single & married life
Theophrastus - The ancient commentator on marriage alleged that a wife was motivated purely by greed, unlike a loyal servant or good friend. The attack on women is more ironic in the context of Januarie as he is motivated by greed; for him a wife is a bargain because sex and service comes free.
True benefits of a wife
A wife is a gift from God, more permanent than a mans possessions which come and go according to fortune
Januarie finding a wife
Having decided that marriage is desirable and will save his should, J states his wife must satisfy him sexually or he will be tempted into adultery (Both of which are forbidden in the 10C). The wife is to be bought, owned and consumed as “yong flessh” showing him to be a predatory pike who’s haste to marry is ambivalent
Pluto & Justinus advice
the question of advice is brought to a close as the narrative mode turns to personification allegory. P&J represent two sides of a debate - P is the archetypal flatterer - familiar to Chaucers audience from court satire. J appears to hold views based on personal experience - similar to those of the Merchant and offer J a warning he chooses to ignore
Januarie choosing his wife
J whose “bisyness” suggests an unhealthy obsession with sex, choosing a wife as if he were choosing meat and considering women as goods of the marketplace.
He chooses a wife whose physical attraction make up for her lack of class - free indirect speech
Meeting May
Her name suggests an allegorical characterisation (winter marrying late spring) which is contrasted in “tender youth haste wedded stouping age” - lexical fields reminding us this marriage is a transaction and a binding commercial contract
The Wedding
The solemnity of the marriage is placed between the account of the legal settlement and the luxurious feast standing as a sensual foreplay for J looking forward to enjoying his wife - mercantile imagery of both types of consumption
Damyan falling for Mays charm
Damyan who is smitten by May is condemned to suffer until she takes pity on his - The narrator pauses to exclaim the particular dangers of the enemy within - setting a scene for adultery before the marriage is consummated
J arranging for M to visit D
The conventions of courtly love are mocked as J solicitous decision his servant should be visited is condemned as noble and generous but the comically proleptic result is that May is instructed by her husband to go and entertain Damyan in bed
May bringing about Damians recovery
The gesture in which the letter is thrust under D pillow and his hand is squeezed is assertive and can be read as as a sexual metaphor that despite convention and appearance it is the women who is in charge - suggesting role reversal
Januarie makes a garden for May
J is in danger as a summertime is May’s season and the outdoor world is her sphere of influence whereas J sphere is indoors where on this occasion the initiative lies within May
