The reason that the knight sets up a mirror in the marketplace is so he can watch the Fair women and fair bodies pass through the mirror so he eventually chose one of the women to be his bride. One source of the symbolism that could be found in The Merchants tale is that the grooms name is January which is a cold lifeless month. While his brides name is May which is a warm month when everything is coming to life. The groom is old and the bride is young which would describe the naming. They are completely different from one another and the months that their names are named are complete opposites.

Miss Schultz-Januarie sets up the mirror in the market-place to see all of the "fair women and fair bodies."  He hopes to find one woman that will bring him happiness.  Many women are available to him given the location of the market-place however he must find the one woman that is good for him. The mirror can symbolize his constantly wandering mind.  He could be thinking of all the women he has seen over the past couple weeks.  His thoughts could "reflect" the images he has seen through those passing by.

 Why does Januarie set up a mirror in the market-place? What does he hope to watch covertly through the reflected images? How might the mirror be symbolic? Speaking of symbolism, pay attention to the naming symbolism that Chaucer plays with throughout this tale. What purpose does it serve? Do you see any connection between what the names symbolize and they way the characters behave in the story?

 POST IS DUE TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2nd

Miss Schultz- In response to your question, (dated 10/26/10) I as well do find some humor within this tale. As Andy pointed out before, there is irony within the tale regarding the Merchant. He described the Knight and how he wanted a wife before he became too old, and too ill. He wants a wife who is much younger than he is so he is free to change her into what he wants her to be. (as Andy also pointed out) The part that I found humorous was actually comparing the Knight in the Merchant"s Tale to the Knight in the Wife of Bath's tale.  In the Wife of Bath's tale, the Knight is somewhat of young age. After having to find the answer that would spare his life, the Knight must marry a rather old and ugly woman. Within this tale, the numbers switched. The Knight is old, and his "wife to be" is less than half his age. Had the Knights switched stories it may have been a match made in Heaven.

The comedy in the Merchant’s tale is that at the begging of the tale the Host tells the Merchant to talk about marriage. The merchant goes and starts to talk about how bad that marriage is even though January the knight wishes to get married. Then he finds a bride named May who is much younger than he is. So he gets her to marry him. On the wedding night everything goes bad because Damien a squire gets the young bride May to fall for him the night that she should be getting married to the knight. The marriage night goes terrible for the knight. Also that would be outrageous in current time if a bride left the night of her wedding for another guy. I also think its funny that a bride named May and a Knight named January were going to get married since there both months of the year.

 Andy - good response. Now tell me what in particular about the tale do you find humorous. Use examples from the text. What parts of the tale are reminiscent of the fabliaux?

The definition of a fabliau is a short, usually comic, frankly coarse, and often cynical tale in verse popular especially in the 12th and 13th centuries. Fabilau also normally have irony in them. In the Merchant's tale, Chaucer talks about marriage in a very different way. The Merchant tells the story of a sixty year old knight who is single and has never been married. The knight wants a wife because he is old and ill and would like a wife before he dies. So the Knight has people go out and search for a wife that would suite him best. In his description of the type of wife he wants is he wants a wife that is in her twenty's. He said that he wants a wife he can mold into what he wants. When he tells his friends of his ideal wife two men begin to agree whether having an young wife is better or worse. One of the men argues that having a young wife will not obey to what you say. The irony is that he wants a young wife so that he can mold her into what he wants but the other people fear that she will not respect him.

"The central episode of the Merchant's Tale is like a fabliau, but of a very unusual sort: it is cast in the high style, and some of the scenes (the marriage feast, for example) are among Chaucer's most elaborate displays of rhetorical art." Discuss the quote. Do you agree? How is this tale a fabliau? How can it be considered rhetorical art? Pay attention to Chaucer's characterization and the style/tone in which he tells the tale. Be sure to include examples from the text.