Fabliau In The Merchant's Tale

The Merchant’s Tale follows a genre of the narrative common to the medieval French literature known as a “fabliau.” According to Christina von Nolcken “these types of stories are often short, comic, and involve a person stealing another person’s wife.” The key plot of The Merchant’s Tale fits this, especially with the stock features of the lustful old man cuckolded by a young woman. Von Nolcken continues, “part of the comedy of a fabliau of this kind is the folly of the old man who thinks he can sexually please his young, good-looking wife, and have her truthful to him”. The tale focuses on January as he appears the victim of the unfaithful wife, but his inappropriate lust and foolishness would have caused no sympathy from Chaucer's medieval audience. …show more content…
He has been single for sixty years and has lived as a ladies’ man.” This is true, yet January insists that he wants to settle down and have a wife, as well as bear a son who can inherit his wealth after living such a promiscuous life. His name is derived from Janus, who was a Roman god of doorways, and had two faces. This implies that January had evaluated his life so far, and felt that marriage would be the key to ensuring his passage to heaven and escaping purgatory. At the time of writing, marriage was considered to be a holy deed that supposedly enabled a new start in life. Not only this, January has the practical reason of wishing to “engender him an heir” to take over the wealth and is intent on making sure that, “myn heritage sholde [not] falle in straunge hand.” Following this, the Merchant interrupts his story of January to emphasise his antagonism towards women; with reference to the preachings of the prominent classical misogynist Theofrastus, the Merchant suggests that a loyal servant is more useful than a wife who is seen as “only after thy