James Fedo
Professor Myron Coleman
LITR 210
19 October 2017
The Threads Connecting The Canterbury Tales: A Comparison of The Miller’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, is a collection of stories, allegedly told to Chaucer by a band of travelers while making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. Each story contains different plots, characters, influences, and storytelling devices. However, at least every tale is connected to another, either by contrast, theme, or story teller. Two of the tales, The Miller’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale share a similar moral, style, and ambiguous ending. They are both stories about jealous, older husbands who attempt to control their younger wives, while the wives manipulate the circumstances to get what they want and come out on top. …show more content…
By focusing on a raunchy tale of debauchery and infidelity, Chaucer, speaking as the Miller, intended for this story to be enjoyed and understood by the common man. In contrast, The Merchant’s Tale uses fabliau to a lesser extent; it is still a story of infidelity and unorthodox sex scenes, but those moments are layered with elegant descriptions of wedding feasts and long asides from arguing gods. Chaucer wrote The Merchant’s Tale to speak to the upper class and nobility. This is an interesting distinction, because that contrast makes the stories’ similarities stand out much sharper. Although intended for different audiences, both tales are a cautionary tale to men about the proper treatment of their wives. This indicates how strongly Chaucer believes this message, because he repeated it throughout The Canterbury Tales, while targeting different audiences with each
Professor Myron Coleman
LITR 210
19 October 2017
The Threads Connecting The Canterbury Tales: A Comparison of The Miller’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, is a collection of stories, allegedly told to Chaucer by a band of travelers while making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. Each story contains different plots, characters, influences, and storytelling devices. However, at least every tale is connected to another, either by contrast, theme, or story teller. Two of the tales, The Miller’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale share a similar moral, style, and ambiguous ending. They are both stories about jealous, older husbands who attempt to control their younger wives, while the wives manipulate the circumstances to get what they want and come out on top. …show more content…
By focusing on a raunchy tale of debauchery and infidelity, Chaucer, speaking as the Miller, intended for this story to be enjoyed and understood by the common man. In contrast, The Merchant’s Tale uses fabliau to a lesser extent; it is still a story of infidelity and unorthodox sex scenes, but those moments are layered with elegant descriptions of wedding feasts and long asides from arguing gods. Chaucer wrote The Merchant’s Tale to speak to the upper class and nobility. This is an interesting distinction, because that contrast makes the stories’ similarities stand out much sharper. Although intended for different audiences, both tales are a cautionary tale to men about the proper treatment of their wives. This indicates how strongly Chaucer believes this message, because he repeated it throughout The Canterbury Tales, while targeting different audiences with each