"Under This Yok of Mariage Ybounde": Aristocratic Husbands and Authoritative Wives in The Merchant's Tale

Abstract:Separating the Merchant's Prologue from his tale leaves the Merchant's character incomplete. Without considering the Merchant's motivation for telling a fabliau, his tale remains a mere addition to the well-established tradition of anti-feminist medieval literature. Merchants held a tenuous position in the three-estate system after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 challenged the traditional social hierarchy. They were viewed as inherently sinful by the Christian clergy, and their conspicuous wealth allowed for social mobility, threatening the aristocracy and the static estate system. In his tale, the Merchant mocks January, a representative of the nobility, for his foolish, sinful behavior, revealing that the second estate is no better than the others.