Merchant’s Tale Quotes

A worthy knyght, that born was of Pavye,
In which he lyved in greet prosperitee;
And sixty yeer a wyflees man was hee,
And folwed ay his bodily delyt
On wommen, ther as was his appetyt.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. The tale begins with references to excessive sex. The lusty knight January has lived to the age of sixty without having married and indulges his physical appetite on women as he pleases and without restraint. His description of a "worthy" knight is ironic and meant to be mocking.

Preyinge oure Lord to graunten him that he
Mighte ones knowe of thilke blisful lyf
That is bitwixe an housbonde and his wyf,
And for to lyve under that hooly boond
With which that first God man and womman bond.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. The old libertine knight January wants to give up his wild bachelor ways. He longs to settle down to what he sees as that blissful life between husband and wife, and live under the holy bond created by God to join man and woman. January’s idea of marriage being a sanctified path to a guaranteed life of pleasure and lawful sex speaks volumes about his foolishness.

"Noon oother lyf," seyde he, "is worth a bene,
For wedlok is so esy and so clene,
That in this world it is a paradys.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. There is no point to life without marriage, January believes. In a classic case of self-deception he views wedlock as so easy and pure and believes that it is a paradise on earth – a Garden of Eden. He is a foolish old man mentally blind to the reality of marriage. The simplistic way that he perceives it is far from the truth.

To take a wyf it is a glorious thyng,
And namely whan a man is oold and hoor;
Thanne is a wyf the fruyt of his tresor.
Thanne sholde he take a yong wyf and a feir,
On which he myghte engendren hym an heir,
And lede his lyf in joye and in solas,
Where as thise bacheleris synge "allas,"
Whan that they fynden any adversitee
In love, which nys but childyssh vanytee.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. This passage is part of a long bitterly ironic speech at the beginning of the tale eulogizing marriage. The unhappily wed Merchant in his mock eulogy describes it as a glorious thing to take a wife. He recommends that especially when a man is old like January he should marry a young wife to produce an heir for himself and lead a life of joy and pleasure. The woman is essentially a sexual device and supplier of heirs. But that kind of thinking sounds flawed and the marriage of an old man and a young wife does not in itself seem an ideal situation. Look what happens to old January.

A trewe servant dooth moore diligence
Thy good to kepe than thyn owene wyf.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. The Merchant quotes Theophrastus, author of The Golden Age of Marriage, to back up his own misogynist views. He says that a good servant will guard your goods better than your own wife. The Theophrastus tract, which satirically attacks marriage, is now lost but was excerpted by Saint Jerome in his Letter Against Jovinian, an important source for Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale and Wife of Bath.

Deffie Theofraste, and herke me.
A wyf is Goddes yifte verraily;
Alle othere manere yiftes hardily,
As londes, rentes, pasture, or commune,
Or moebles – alle been yiftes of Fortune
That passen as a shadwe upon a wal.
But drede nat, if pleynly speke I shal:
A wyf wol laste, and in thyn hous endure.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. The Merchant urges January to defy the advice of philosopher Theophrastus and his hatred of women and marriage, and instead listen to him. The narrator goes on to describe a wife a gift from God. Comparing her with lands, rents, pasture and personal possessions, he uses the language of commerce and objectifies women. A wife will ensure unlike these gifts of Fortune which pass like a shadow upon a wall, says the Merchant.

But certeynly, a yong thyng may men gye,
Right as men may warm wex with handes plye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. Old man January thinks he has the perfect solution to a successful marriage. Marry a "young thing" so can mold a melleable and passive young wife into submission. He deludes himself into thinking she will be just like warm wax in the hands of an experienced old man like him to guide. Is this master of self-delusion lying to himself, or is he really that stupid?

I wol noon oold wyf han right for this cause.
For if so were I hadde swich myschaunce
That I in hire ne koude han no plesaunce,
Thanne sholde I lede my lyf in avoutrye
And go streight to the devel whan I dye.
Ne children sholde I none upon hire geten;
Yet were me levere houndes had me eten
Than that myn heritage sholde falle
In straunge hand, and this I telle yow alle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. January sets out his criteria for a wife: she must be able to give him sexual pleasure and provide him with an heir. An old wife is out, because he would end up leading a life of adultery and go straight to the devil in hell. Also she could give him no children and he would rather that hounds ate him than his wealth and heritage should fall into a stranger’s hand.

Though I be hoor, I fare as dooth a tree
That blosmeth er that fruyt ywoxen bee;
And blosmy tree nys neither drye ne deed.
I feele me nowhere hoor but on myn heed;
Myn herte and alle my lymes been as grene
As laurer thurgh the yeer is for to sene.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. January blindly refuses to acknowledge his old age and compares himself to a blossoming tree. Though he is white-haired, he fares like a tree that blossoms before the fruit is grown. In fact he boasts that he is old nowhere but on his white head, his heart and limbs are as green as laurel. But he is being dishonest when you consider the aphrodisiacs that he must take on his wedding night and the deep sleep he falls into after sex!

Many fair shap and many a fair visage
Ther passeth thurgh his herte nyght by nyght,
As whoso tooke a mirour, polisshed bryght,
And sette it in a commune market-place.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. Old January in his search for a young wife completely focuses on appearance and beauty. Fair women and fair bodies pass through his head like images reflected on a mirror set up in a market-place. He is only interested in a young girl’s looks and he objectifies women like they are goods to be traded.

Dispeire yow noght, but have in youre memorie,
Paraunter she may be youre purgatorie!
She may be Goddes meene and Goddes whippe;
Thanne shal youre soule up to hevene skippe
Swifter than dooth an arwe out of a bowe.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. Justinus to brother January after the old knight expresses fears that marriage will be such a heaven on earth it will supersede the rewards of the afterlife. Justinus, who is against January marrying a woman so much younger than himself, warns him that she may turn out to be his purgatory on earth!
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