The Merchant's Tale: Interpretations (OCR A Level English Literature)

The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale: Interpretations

AO5 assesses your ability to understand different ways of reading and interpreting texts. Those readings can take different forms, from interpretations by critics to watching and analysing various productions of a text.

There are numerous ways to explore different interpretations in order to meet the AO5 assessment criterion, and you must explore a range of secondary reading and perspectives to supplement your understanding of the text. These interpretations can include:

• Exploring critics

• Interpretations over time

• Dramatisations

Exploring critics

Different critics will offеr variеd insights and intеrprеtations of The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, and citations will lеnd crеdibility and authority to your analysis. Rеfеrеncing well-known critics demonstrates that your interpretation is groundеd in literary criticism. It will also еnhance thе validity of your argumеnt. By citing multiple critics, you can prеsеnt a morе comprehensive and balanced analysis and demonstrate the different range of perspectives and interpretations surrounding the poem.

Below are two notable critics who have commented on The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale:

George Lyman Kittredge: “Chaucer’s Discussion of Marriage” (1912)

• George Kittredge, Professor of English at Harvard, notes in his essay that the Merchant’s Prologue and Tale is “a frenzy of contempt and hatred”

• In particular, Kitteridge focuses on the Merchant’s bitter narration:

  • He states that the Merchant is a “disillusioned and cynical” husband

  • Kitteridge considers that the Merchant’s voice is “overlaid with savage satire” so that it becomes a “complete disquisition of marriage”

• Kitteridge suggests that the fabliau is predominantly a warning about recklessly undertaking the commitment of marriage

• He states that the Merchant’s “hatred is for women; the contempt is for himself and all other fools who will not take warning by example”

• Kitteridge argues in his essay that “the Merchant is so eager to make his point”:

  • He ensures he is “enforcing his lesson in every possible way”, mentioning in particular the way the Merchant includes classical references

• Nevertheless, Kitteridge suggests the warning ultimately comes from Chaucer: “And Chaucer is equally bent on making him do it.”

• The essay discusses the tale in the context of the Marriage Group 

• He describes Januarie and May’s deceitful marriage as inevitably doomed: “Marriage brings in mastery and mastery and love cannot abide”

• Kitteridge argues that “the Pilgrims are dramatis personae” and they “illustrate the speaker’s character and opinions” 

• Kitteridge considers Januarie and the Merchant’s voice to be one and the same

• His essay argues that the “end of the Merchant's Tale does not bring the Marriage Chapter of the Canterbury Tales to a conclusion” 

Stephanie Tolliver: “January's Misogynist Merchant: The Theme of Sight

in Chaucer's Merchant and ‘The Merchant's Tale’" (2010)

• Tolliver’s main focus in her criticism of The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale is that “Januarie shops for his bride”:

  • She suggests Januarie’s dialogue points to a mercantile attitude to marriage and to women, which is a reflection of the Merchant’s attitude

  • When Januarie mentions a bride in the context of “a commune market-place”, she argues that Januarie’s voice and that of the Merchant are blurred

  • She says, “These lines provide textual proof that January is connected to the Merchant since he appraises May before buying her” 

• Tolliver’s debates on the Merchant centre around the way he reduces the romantic elements of the poem:

  • She suggests the Merchant “makes it his sole purpose to reduce” notions of romance and love

  • Instead, she says, he wishes to “portray all wives as deceitful” 

• She argues that Januarie serves as a “vehicle for the Merchant” which classifies him “undoubtedly as a motley-clad misogynist”

• Tolliver’s essay explores the pear-tree scene, suggesting the Merchant is deliberately vague about the outcome of the sexual encounter

  • This leaves readers with unanswered questions and casts doubt on the Merchant’s credibility

• Tolliver considers, too, the theme of blindness:

  • Tolliver argues that the Merchant refuses to see that “marriage is not always a paradise” and that his perception of his wife is the problem

• She argues “January's mental blindness to the reality of marriage parallels his later temporary physical blinding”

• Tolliver suggests the Merchant has been a “victim to false advertisement” regarding marriage

• She claims the theme of blindness can be explored through Januarie’s dialogue:

  • Specifically, this is evident before he takes May to the garden: "A man may do no synne with his wyf,/Ne hurte hymselven with his owene knyf" 

  • These lines, she argues, show how “each man has convinced himself that his disillusionment is truth”

Interpretations over time

Chaucer's manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales were initially scribed (written down for him). It has been said that there are more manuscript copies of the poem than for almost any other poem of its day. Since its first publication in print in 1478 by William Caxton, Chaucer’s poem has been translated and adapted across the globe. However, since its first production, society and thinking have changed greatly. Below are some examples of critical reactions that have evolved in relation to the key themes and ideas in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale:

Reactions to early performances 

• The first critical responses to The Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400, came from other poets 

• Chaucer was praised for his sophisticated and poetic language and his innovative use of genre

• In the fifteenth century, John Lydgate and Thomas Occleve were among the first critics of Chaucer's Tales:

  • They suggested that Chaucer showed English to its full potential and the collection was a work of great English literature 

  • Glosses included in The Canterbury Tales manuscripts praised Chaucer’s poem for its skillful sentence structure and rhetorical language 

• As Chaucer failed to complete all of the tales, many mediaeval authors were prompted to write additions:

  • Some of the oldest existing manuscripts of the tales include new or modified tales

• Much literature of the time was written as a form of moral instruction

• Early responses considered The Canterbury Tales predominantly as an allegory:

  • They focus on how the characters’ actions represent deeper ideas related to sin and virtue

More recent reactions

• In the eighteenth century, fragments of the pilgrims' stories were ordered differently, in a bid to construct better cohesion between the tales

• Translations from Middle English to modern English began to emerge, which resulted in multiple versions 

• The most well-known work of the eighteenth century was Canterbury Tales written by Harriet Lee:

  • This consisted of twelve stories told by travellers who have been drawn together by fate

  • Her work is believed to have had an influence on Lord Byron, esteemed label goes here poet

• Later interpretations focused on the morality which is represented by the pilgrims:

  • Interpretations considered how the poem informed readers about the historical and social context, in particular religious institutions and standards

• In the 1950s, Chaucer was examined as a critic of mediaeval social norms: 

  • Some focused on Chaucer's perceived derogatory opinions about immoral characters

  • Others considered Chaucer’s characters in terms of his nobler figures and how they served to mock the systems they lived under

• A version of the text, published in 1907 and written by Henry Dudeney, adapted the characters from The Canterbury Tales into a series of puzzles

• Some interpretations explored Chaucer’s characterisations as complex, portraying sophisticated motives: 

  • In 1993, P.C. Doherty wrote a series of mystery novels based on The Canterbury Tales

  • The books used the frame story as well as characters from the tales

• Science-fiction writer Dan Simmons’ novel “Hyperion”,published in 1989, sets the story on other planets 

• Chaucer’s influence can be seen in other science-fiction adaptations, such as Richard Dawkins’ 2004 non-fiction book “The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution”:

  • In it, animals take the place of the pilgrims and discuss evolution

• British poet Patience Agbabi adapted the text to tell stories from the perspective of refugees and asylum seekers in her book “Refugee Tales”

Dramatisations

Examining various productions on stage and screen of The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale will enable you to appreciate different interpretations of the characters and themes, and also how they may have evolved over time, reflecting shifts in society and culture.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1944 film

• A Canterbury Tale was written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

• It opens with mediaeval pilgrims travelling through Kent: 

  • It is said that the film wished to align the literary culture of England with its landscape 

• Powell said the aim of the film was to show "the love of his birthplace and all that he felt about England"

• One critic said, “There's a bit of the mystical, with discussions of centuries past and the lingering ghosts of ancestors”

• It is argued that was designed to be a propaganda film to evoke patriotism: 

  • The mediaeval scene transitions into a Second World WarI setting

• It follows a group of strangers who each tell a story in a bid to find redemption

• In one scene, a historian lectures British soldiers about the glory of mediaeval pilgrimages

• The film ends at Canterbury Cathedral to highlight aspects of pilgrimage and devotion

  • As the pilgrims arrive, the bells resound and lines from the poem are spoken aloud, adding gravitas to the mood

Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1972 film

• When it was initially shown at the 1972 Berlin film festival, this version of The Canterbury Tales was heavily criticised

• Many critics disliked its focus on sex and male genitalia

• Other critics suggested it adhered to conventions of fabliaux:

  • One critic noted its use of sexual innuendo and gratuitous sex, saying “the film … depicts the baseness and depravity of the late Middle Ages”

• Film critic Colin MacCabe wrote that Pasolini was "not aiming for an accurate representation of the time, but a modern re-creation of its spirit"

• The film makes use of lewd British folk songs from the British Isles 

  • Januarie sings a song called “Paddy West”, although it was composed in 1951

• The film deviates from the mediaeval Old English of the original poem

  • Pasolini uses a modern colloquial English to highlight comedic banter and witticisms 

• The cinematography incorporates classical art from the mediaeval and Renaissance era:

  • Scenes of Chaucer in his study are based on a painting by Antonello da Messina called “Saint Jerome in His Study”, alluding to religious teachings of the time

  • It is not known if this is ironic or if the film alludes to its classical context

• The Criterion Collection claimed the film was a “merry blasphemy”:

  • The film depicts hell at the end of the film in the style of controversial Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch