The Merchant’s Tale – Marriage

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Consider Chaucer’s view of marriage as presented in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.

The story of Januarie’s marriage to May and her subsequent infidelity with Damyan allows for not only Chaucer’s view of marriage to come through, but also includes the opinions of contemporary writers. Chaucer allows his views to be made known as the narrator and his views could also be said to infiltrate the speeches of the Merchant. Justinus and Placebo’s views are also accounted for as the fictional characters also air their opinions on the institution of marriage. In this way, Chaucer has allowed for a fair deal of discussion of marriage.

Chaucer places the character of Januarie in Pavia, which has a reputation for brothels. In this somewhat uncouth place, Januarie is in a self-imposed race against time to find a wife. At 60 years old, Januarie 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. His friends would have liked to have advised Januarie further on his choice of wife, however there was no time. Januarie 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.

Like Januarie, 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 Januarie’s mind for a young and mouldable wife.

While Januarie firmly believes that marriage is the road to a joyful life, Chaucer later allows the bachelor to have a good time while the married man suffers. This is somewhat different from Januarie’s belief that marriage ends the small sorrows of love, “Where as thise bacheleris sing”. However, Damyan is not always the winner in the love triangle. At first he is bedridden with love sickness, burning with love for May. However, it is shown that St Paul believed that it was better to marry than to burn with lust.

The inclusion of Theophrastus, the author of “The Golden Book of Marriage”, shows another view that preaches that women lead men to their doom. It can certainly be said that throughout the poem, Chaucer uses imagery of temptation and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Damyan is described as being “like to the adder in bosom sly untrue”. While Januarie is physically blind, it can be said that he was blinded by his love, or lust, for May as they spent time in the garden. It is when Januarie becomes blind that we learn of his much more possessive nature with regard to nature. He would rather have May dead than any other man touch her. Chaucer builds up the dramatic tension by describing May’s desperation for a younger partner who is more emotionally in tune with her while concurrently expressing Januarie’s desperation to hold on to the piece of youth he owns.

Chaucer considers the aphrodisiacs that Januarie consumes to “increase his corage” to be unnatural, perhaps expressing the view that this marriage has an unnatural age gap. It could be inferred from Chaucer’s disapproval of these aphrodisiacs and his preoccupation with the repulsive details of Januarie’s sexual brutality and revolting appearance that he believes that this should certainly not be a sexual relationship. Even without the unfavoured drugs, it remains a relationship without an kind of mutual love or love making.

Again, it is Chaucer’s focuses that could be said to be a clue to Chaucer’s personal view. His emphasis of Januarie’s ironic sermon to May about faithfulness while she has already betrayed her husband could be Chaucer’s view of the wrongness of infidelity in marriage. It is again the bachelor who has the best time while the reader and pilgrims can perhaps mock the old man who remains oblivious to his wife’s inappropriate actions. In the walled garden, as Januarie clasps the pear tree for guidance, his wife and squire hurriedly consummate their relationship, almost symbolically within Januarie’s arms, showing the limitations he still held over May.

The Merchant uses many Biblical references in relating his story to his audience and occasionally his own cynical view of marriage can be detected in the narration. However, he seems to pass little judgment on the mercantile nature of the engagement. This matter is left to the reader to judge and wonder at. It is as if the Merchant is comfortable with “every writ and bond” by which [May] was endowed [Januarie's] land.

The Biblical allusions in the poem and the consideration of Heaven play a part in Januarie’s decisions and justifications. As May is brought to the marital bed, “as stille as stoon”, the priest blesses the bed, thereby condoning the relationship in which Januarie simply uses May as a sexual embed and a supplier of heirs. The Merchant makes a point of referring to women in the Bible who have been deceitful in some way, such as Rebecca who deceived her blind husband by gaining his blessing for the wrong son. Abigail saved her husband only to later make a marriage contract with another man. There are suggestions of May’s excuse that her behaviour with Damyan in the tree returned Januarie’s sight. She claims to have saved Januarie, but cares nothing for him.

Chaucer’s view of marriage can sometimes be difficult to distinguish form the views expressed by other characters in the poem, in particular the Merchant as their narration can become entwined. Chaucer appears to have a much more orthodox view of the reasons behind marriage than Januarie can be said to have. While Januarie sees marriage as something he should do to save his soul – and a means for sexual gratification, Chaucer has a more romantic view of marriage, enforcing his belief that infidelity is wrong. The Merchant says little about the business like manner in which the marriage took place, but has more to say about the untrustworthy nature of women, his cynicism from his own relationships showing through his occasional selections of Biblical references to deceitful women such as Rebecca and Judith. The Tale’s own deceitful woman, May, yearns for a more emotional relationship and believes that she finds this with Damyan. However, he holds what appears to be a more typical male view of marriage. It is much more enjoyable to be a bachelor and to have no ties. May’s only emotional links with him, such as the letters they exchange, have to be disposed of in the privy. The mercantile, unromantic nature of marriage seems to be prevalent in most men’s minds as women cannot be trusted unless perhaps under some kind of bond other than purely spiritual.

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