The Complex Character of the Merchant in The Canterbury Tales

Sometimes a character is not fully revealed right away in order to surprise and convey a specific purpose later on. Chaucer demonstrates this idea in The Canterbury Tales, specifically with the Merchant character. In the General Prologue, Chaucer portrays the Merchant as a respectable character; however, he hints aspects of the Merchants personality that question this respectable image. The Merchant’s entire personality is later revealed in his Prologue and Tale, as it is made evident of his cynical and pessimistic outlook, making him less respectful. In this novel, the Merchant is categorized as a salesman and trader who imports and exports wholesale goods from several countries. Toward the end of the 14th century, merchants had an†¦show more content†¦This aspect is important for the Merchant’s personality, as it further questions his true character, suggesting dishonestly. He is only revealed acting professionally, talking only of business, and showing little of his true self. The General Prologue includes a substantial amount of information regarding the Merchant’s appearance and forced personality (due to his job and pride), but his own prologue and tale reveals more personal traits and thoughts, creating a more complex, but less respectable character. The General Prologue does not include the personal problems he is facing, as introducing a completely different character is more surprising and unexpected to the reader (Brown 141). The Merchant’s unhappiness and cynical view of marriage is introduced in his Prologue and emphasized in his Tale and Epilogue, as he attempts to inform others how marriage is extremely difficult. It is evident that the Merchant is having â€Å"an emotional crisis† (Kittredge 450), especially after the Clerk’s tale about a patient wife. The Merchant finally reveals his true character, as he explains his unhappiness with his new marriage, which has only lasted two months so far, and the Prologue and tale are joined by a common pattern of imagery in which the language of binding, tapping, and imprisonment describes the effect of marriage on the once free spirit of the husband (Brown 144). Thus, the ironyShow MoreRelatedThe Emerging Middle Class in Late Medieval England888 Words   |  4 PagesChaucer at the end of the fourteenth century, The Canterbury Tales and more specifically it’s prologue, shed a great deal of light on the rising middle class in (fourteenth century) England. Despite the fact that some readers may not know a lot about the time period today, Chaucer’s writing in the prologue elaborates on topics such as occupations, wealth, education, and political power. Scholar Barbara Nolan writes of the prologue, â€Å"it is more complex than most†¦It raises expectations in just the areasRead More Powerful Satire in Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay3466 Words   |  14 PagesPowerful Satire in The Canterbury Tales If one theme can be considered overriding or defining throughout Medieval European society, it would most likely be the concept of social class structure. During this early historical period in Europe, most of society was divided into three classes or estates: the workers, the nobles, and the clerics. By Chaucers time, however, the powerful estate structure had begun to wear down. Weaknesses in the system became apparent, as many people, such as ChaucerRead MoreThe Variety of Ways in Which Chaucer Treats the Subject of Love1450 Words   |  6 Pagesstories in the Canterbury Tales, men and women on the way to, or in marriage provide the ostensible subject, with six tales expounding largely on love and its counterpart in marriage. In comic tales, sexual activity is constantly relished, especially in the Miller’s Tale and the Reeve’s Tale, where love is defined and motivated by animalistic physical desire and relationships clouded with lies and deceit. In contrast, romances like the Knight’s Tale and the Franklin’s Tale have a high idealRead More The Bourgeois Social Class in Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay5130 Words   |  21 PagesIt is clear that Geoffrey Chaucer was acutely aware of the strict classist system in which he lived; indeed the very subject matter of his Canterbury Tales (CT) is a commentary on this system: its shortcomings and its benefits regarding English society. In fact, Chaucer is particularly adept at portraying each of his pilgrims as an example of various strata within 14th century English society. And upon first reading the CT, one might mistake Chaucers acute social awareness and insightful characterizationsRead MoreHistory of British Literature3343 Words   |  14 Pagesthere was no French prose tradition was very important to the preservation of the English prose tradition. In the 13th cent. the  romance, an important continental narrative verse form, was introduced in England. It drew from three rich sources of character and adventure: the legends of Charlemagne, the legends of ancient Greece and Rome, and the British legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  Layamons  Brut, a late 13th-century metrical romance (a translation from the French), marksRead MoreEssay on The Influential Life of Christopher Marlowe 1460 Words   |  6 Pageshis baptism in Canterbury at St. George’s Church on February 26th, 1564, the same year as William Shakespeare. Marlowe was the second child of shoemaker John Marlowe and his wife Katherine Arthur. According to Peter Farey, Marlowe had six siblings, including five sisters—one whom died years after Marlowe was born—and one brother. Unlike his counterpart Shakespeare, Marlowe was university-educated. On January 14th, 1579, Marlowe started his education at the King’s School , Canterbury on a scholarshipRead MoreFigurative Language and the Canterbury Tales13472 Words   |  54 Pagesrelate their meaning to the new context. †¢ Brightness falls from the air/ Queens have died young and fair/Dust hath closed Helen’s eye. -from Thomas Nashe’s â€Å"Litany in Time of Plague;† refers to Helen of Troy. 4. alter ego: A literary character or narrator who is a thinly disguised representation of the author, poet, or playwright creating a work. 5. anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses. †¢ The Lord sits above the water floodsRead MoreThe Life and Works of Dramatist Aphra Behn Essay2575 Words   |  11 PagesThe Life and Works of Dramatist Aphra Behn Aphra Behn left a legacy of being not only a complex and enigmatic woman, but a poet, a playwright, a writer, a novelist, and a spy. A commoner who blended with the royalty and revolted against the societal norms with her lewd yet cunning writings, she exhibited the influence of more than just a writer of her time period and left her mark in the canon of English literature by creating her own genre of amatory. She was a feminist, an adventurist, an abolitionistRead MoreEssay Utopia4252 Words   |  18 PagesDespite the thoughts on a planned society that preceded More in the field of Utopic philosophy, the first complete Utopia was credited to More and it became the pinnacle of Renaissance humanist thought. In the book, Utopia, More employed the fictional character Ralpheal Hythloday to bring a practical Utopia to the readers. The travelogue of the Island of Utopia from Hythloday would act as the model of many Eutopias (Latin: happy-place) and dystopias (Latin: opposite-place) cre ated from a variety of interpretationsRead MoreMacbeth9435 Words   |  38 Pagesto the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television,  opera, novels, comic books, and other media. Contents   Ã‚  [hide]   * 1  Characters * 2  Plot * 3  Sources * 4  Date and text * 5  Themes and motifs * 5.1  Ambition * 5.2  Masculinity * 6  Analysis * 6.1  As a tragedy of character * 6.2  As a tragedy of moral order * 6.3  As a poetic tragedy * 6.4  Witchcraft and evil * 7  Superstition and the Scottish play