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ESSAY PLAN: Does The Merchant’s Tale reinforce medieval assumptions about women?
The Merchant's Tale Themes, Quotes and Analysis
The Merchant's Tale Essay Plans
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English Literature
AS Unit 2 - Poetry Post-1900
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The Merchant’s Tale Context
Chaucer:
● Chaucer was the first writer to use vernacular English, as the language had been
adapted after the Norman invasion in 1066. He was the first to acknowledge that the
English language was developing a new individual medium of communication that
superceded any of the singular languages that have influenced it.
○ After the Norman invasion, French was the language of England until a few
hundred years later when they began to identify as English rather than
occupying Norman.
● Chaucer’s aim in writing the Canterbury Tales was to make language and reading
more accessible to the public, similar to Dante in Italy who began writing in Italian
rather than Latin.
● Born into a small yet emerging middle-class family.
● His father was a successful wine merchant in London who was promoted to keeper
of the King’s wine cellar.
● Geoffrey learned classical Greek, Roman literature, philosophy, astrology among
others.
● Chaucer was a diplomat and was involved in military campaigns and was captured
and ransomed while serving in France.
● He became an Esquire of the noble gentry, linking him to Damyan (perhaps meaning
that the leniency towards Januraie in the tale is due to the Merchant’s bias but
Chaucer leans more towards May and Damyan’s sympathy).
○ Chaucer truly mirrored Damyan as he married the daughter of a knight
allowing him to move up in social ranking.
● Chaucer was promoted to Esquire of the King where he was awarded a gallon of
wine every day for his lifetime.
● He was later given the role of Controller of Customs where he was responsible for
the collection of taxes which helped him to make contact with most of medieval
society.
● He became a Member of Parliament.
● He was well before his time in viewing the oppressive and abusive treatment of
women in Medieval society as degrading. He would write subtly about women
making the best of their lives while allowing men to still think they were in control.
● Died in 1400.
Medieval Society:
● The Black Death, peaking from 1347-1351, was the most feared disease of the time.
Illness could easily come about and many were incurable at the time. Many children,
and women during birth, died.
○ Chaucer spent most of his time in Southampton with his family which was
less infected so he was not as much at risk.
○ The Black Death created a labour shortage so labourers could for the first
time, choose where they worked and begin to move up social rank as there
were positions that needed to be filled. This benefitted Chaucer as he got a
job as a page allowing him to travel as mingle with the aristocratic.
● Chaucer’s life spanned much of ‘The Hundred Years War’, and the Peasants’ Revolt
against King Richard II.
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