How Does Chaucer Present Attitudes to Marriage in the Merchant's Tale

Starting with an analysis of the extract lines 99-149, explore how Chaucer is presenting attitudes to marriage.

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales demonstrate many different attitudes toward and perceptions of marriage. Some of these ideas are very traditional, such as that discussed in the Franklin's Tale, and others are more liberal such as the marriages portrayed in the Miller's and the Wife of Bath's Tales. However, it is apparent that within the Merchant’s tale that Chaucer is creating a negative attitude towards marriage through the Merchant’s experiences and January’s tale of deceit, ignorance and betrayal.

Within the lines 99-149 the Merchants speaks of the benefits of having a wife. It can be argued that Chaucer presents a positive attitude to marriage within these lines specifically through the biblical references. References to Genesis and the ‘paradis’ of the Garden of Eden are apparent throughout this extract particularly when the Merchant says ‘a wyf is Goddes yifte yerraily.’ Here the Merchant is describing a wife as God’s gift truly, this presents a positive attitude towards marriage and having a wife which contradicts with the attitudes expressed by the Merchant in his prologue. However, a gift may be a positive thing to receive, it also implies that a wife is given to man by God as his possession to do with what he pleases, presenting a strong patriarchal dominance over women during this time. This idea can be further explored through lines 101 and 102, owning a wife is compared to owning ‘londes, rentes, pasture or commune’. All four of these are objects of possession a man during this time would have felt accumulated to success, therefore a wife is devalued to nothing but an object to aid a man’s success in a patriarchal world. This view was not unusual for Chaucer’s time a woman was seen as property rather than a person, before marriage she was the property of her father and would then become the property of her husband once she was married. The biggest piece of evidence for this is that rape was referred to as a ‘property’ crime. If a man was found guilty of raping a woman, reparations would be paid to the father or husband as the crime was viewed to be committed against the father or husband rather than against the victim. During this time women were seen as subordinate and inferior to men and a strong patriarchal society reigned over medieval England. These views can be credited to religious views, in particular the verses in Genesis. This idea of Original sin was used to justify women’s subordinate place in society. According to the Bible, Eve was created from Adam's rib and, having eaten the forbidden fruit, was responsible for man's expulsion from paradise. This view is most evident in line 117 when God ‘made him eve’. This quotation further solidifies the idea that a woman was only made for the sole purpose of pleasing and being ‘mannes helpe and his confort.’

Chaucer presents marriage as a convenience rather than an act of a loving union. At 60 years old, January is getting married simply because he feels that he should before he dies and believes that, like St Paul says, to get married purely in order to avoid sin, is perfectly reasonable. Januarie wants a wife of “warm wex” in order to be able to ply her to his own demands and needs. It also suggests the idea that January wished to mould may into the perfect obedient, subordinate woman. However, wax is not a permanent material, once heated it can easily be remoulded in a different way, possibly foreshadowing how Damyan shapes May to fit his desires. Either way, May is always the wax and is always being controlled and ordered by the men in her life. Therefore, Chaucer could have likened May to wax to reflect the dominance and control men held over women during this time. Most women, even those in privileged circumstances, had little control over the direction their lives took. The marriages of young aristocratic women were usually arranged by their families, and they had no choice as to whom they may be betrothed to, resulting in many marriages being arranged for personal gain rather than loving unions.

This attitude can further be seen in the tale as January sees the marriage very much as a business transaction and he uses his friends to scour the land for suitable women as it is a quicker way of finding the best deal for his own gain. January says his future bride ‘shal nat passe twenty year.’ This is ironic considering January’s old age, and here we can analyse the names of ‘January’ and ‘May’, both reflect very contrasting seasons that can never be joined in union. Winter and Spring joining in union would be impossible due to9 their natures of death and rebirth, thus foreshadowing the failure of the union between January and May. The Merchant uses January’s friends as tools to hint at this inevitable failure and infidelity about to unfold later in the poem. Like January, Justinus is concerned with the economic ideals of the union. However he does have further concerns as to the age difference that will occur. He soon sees the possibility of infidelity on the wife’s part. Unlike Januarie who quite simply requires a pretty face and a weak character, Justinus advises that the woman should have “Mo goode thewes than hire vices badde”. In contrast to these deeper concerns for a trustworthy and honourable union, Placebo sycophantically echoes the only concerns in January’s mind for a young and mouldable wife.