Essay
The Merchants Tale and An ideal Husband comparison
- Module
- Drama and poetry pre-1900
- Institution
- OCR
A Level English Lit OCR - The Merchants Tale By Chaucer and An ideal Husband by Wilde Comparison Essay plans
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Use/misuse of Powerneg aspects of power (Robert)
● W presents Robs desire for power as clouding his judgement and corrupting his
moral compass in AIH
● In committing a fraudulent act in his youth in order to acquire ‘exactly what I
wanted, power over others’ Rob effectively ensures the inevitability of his ruin once
his unsavoury act is revealed
● Through presenting Rob as having to fights against the threat of ‘public scandal’ +
the potential breakdown of his marriage in response to him having ‘bought success
at a .. price’ W highlights impacts of an overt desire for power on happiness. In
exploring powers ability to corrupt through plays that were presented to the upper
echelons of a nineteenth century society that celebrates status + power. W
encourages the consideration of what Sos Eltis calls, ‘the corrosive effects of
wealth + power’ in Vic society
mays’ power =neg effects
● Can clearly be seen that in obtains sexual agency, may deeply humiliates and
emasculates J, who by the end of the tale is reduced to childish figure w/his ‘a
roring and a cry’
● This undoubtedly reads as destructive , particularly to a med reader , to whom the
concept of cuckoldry would have been linked w/both the destruction of a husbands
masculinity + his marriage , arguably far more than a modern reader, as divorce
was impossible in the Middle Ages + so the shame of infidelity was almost
inescapable
● BUT modern critics may interpret m’s newfound sexual autonomy as empowering,
and a retaliation to her status as a ‘desirable commodity’, as observed by Aers
● Contrast b/w her being as ‘still e as stoon’ on her wedding night + ‘brighte +
sheene’ + b4 she has sex w/D creates the sense that in pursuing her sexual
desires, may has Gaines power + happiness
Greed/ambition/desire
J sees consequences of his greed
● his fate is foreshadowed in very structure of the tale- introduced as ‘ sixty year a
wyfless man’ having a ‘great corage… to be a wedded man’ - link b he w
euphemistic ‘corage’ and his old age sets up tale as fabliau, which med reader
would’ve implied his desire for wife shall lead to j’s downfall
● j and appetite for sex portrayed in repulsive light/self destructive = c draws upon
adj ‘tendre,’ ‘corage ‘ + ‘pittee’- following a lexical field of sexuality = accentuates
overwhelming focus on lust/carnality - suggest marital intentions revolve around
securing LT sexual satisfaction rather than being united in ‘hooly bonde”
● his repeated focus on sex=creates sense of moral depravity + supports coopers
observation that J ‘ has opted for moral blindness from the start’
● sancity of marriage become perverted by sexual greeed , on wedding night tells
may that ‘ a man can do no sin w/his wyf’ - to society as religious as med one j’s
sexual excess violates of moderation so crucial to biblical teachings
● j’s loss of sights seen as physical punish ends as he ‘ amiddle his lust and
prosperitee is women blind’ - but it’s after he regains his sight that he blindly
accords mays exude for adultey and so ‘chooses to live in a self imposed
blindess’- emerson
, ● C arguing by end of novel, no longer matter whether can see -it is
● his power of perception has been destroyed by greed
Persuasion/manipulation
yes male writers can write about women- May’s infedelity
● Present women as cunning/manipulative and empowering =Mays infidelity
● when M receives D love letter she uses her sexual power to her adv, having sex
w/j so he will sleep enabling her to ‘secrely’ read the note
● The med church often encouraged women to procreate in order to escape Eve’s
sin, and marriage was widely considered a means of regulating sexual activity
● Hence, she exploits her one true form of power, her sexual power, + is able to
utilise the social conception of women as overtly sexual to her adv = Davidson ‘it is
the sprightly May who will hold the sexual potency of the union’
● Similarly as she ‘in warm wex hath e printed the clicket’, reminding the reader of J’s
earlier comment, ‘men may warm wex w/hands plye’= impression M now showing
plot of tale = manages to gain autonomy in face of perverse husband
● m’s transition from ‘stoon’ to ‘sheene’ could be read my modern fem critics as C
depicting an assertion of female sexual empowerment
Happiness
Intro
happiness not possible w/out delusion (both)
● At end of TMT = j chooses what Brown Jr referred to as ‘self-imposed blindness,’,
as he blindly accepts May’s exude for her adultery
● Chaucer’s description of ‘this J, who is glad but he?’, creates impression j has
reached some sort of happiness by end of poem. = but had to either
consciously/unconsciously disregard the truth in the process
● Considering the impossibility of divorce during middle ages , reader can see why J
eager to return to marriage w/may as of whole incident never transpired , as only
other option would be public humiliation
● While divorce legal during vic era, would be incred socially damaging to women,
who would rarely be able to pursue 2nd marriage
● Easy to see why LC being prepared to make similar exchange of truth for
happiness in AIH
● After hearing Robs misdeeds begs “lie to me! Lie to me! tell me it’s not true!’
● This paradoxical demand shows how, Iike j, LC rather remain happy + ignorant
than face spouses actions
● Writers able to present the reader w/ question of which is more important to
Pursue= happiness of truth
Love/desire
love = destructive (M+J)
● j and appetite for sex portrayed in repulsive light/self destructive = c draws upon
adj ‘tendre,’ ‘corage ‘ + ‘pittee’- following a lexical field of sexuality = accentuates
overwhelming focus on lust/carnality - suggest marital intentions revolve around
securing LT sexual satisfaction rather than being united in ‘hooly bonds’
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