“In the battle of the sexes, there are no outright winners.”
Consider some of the ways in which this remark might be applied to Chaucer’s presentation of gender in
The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.
Certainly for some, like Jane Barnard-Smith, May is the blatant emblem of victory, with her very name
having aptonymous symbolism of feasting within astrology-conforming to Barnard-smith’s view that “the
woman wins!”. In Chaucer’s ludicrous parody of genesis, arguably both Damian and January are
vanquished by May’s farcical romp . January ( a microcosm of the symbolic “wynter” in
reverdie lyrical poetry) is unvictorious, as “winter always fails” (Barnard-smith), and
he is left “goon with alle his reynes weete”. Similarly, Damian who “kembeth
(combs) hym, he preyneth hym and pyketh (neatens himself)” is an example
of the male sex presented as being inherently submissive, due to this triad of
satirical effictio-a digression into a blazon of one’s physical attributes found in the
romance genre- serving to amplify Damian’s lack of heroic qualities as “he dooth al
that his lady lust and lyketh”. However, there is ample cause to agree with this
statement because, as Laura Varnam puts forth -“Chaucer subtly brings into play the very system of
values that traditional fabliaux tend to work without”, and thus, May fails to be a blatant winner in the
face of patriarchy as she is still constrained by “the system of values” that demonstrates that by
commanding Damian to “sitte upon the pyrie (pear tree)” she has committed a mortal sin.
The battle of sexes arguably establishes female superiority over the foolish, cuckholded senex amans of
“olde” January, presenting the female gender with an almost impunious sense of “fresshe” sexual
potency that vanquishes the agency of the foolish old dotard; he is convinced that he “han som
glymsyng, and no parfit sighte” in a triumph of femine guile over masculine forces. For
example, with May’s almost didactic declaration to January that “he that mysconceyveth, he
mysdemeth (misunderstands, he misjudges)” after he witnessed “al hire
harlotrye” presents the female gender as self-righteous, connoted through the
proverbial preaching emphasised in the anaphora of “he”. Furthermore, the
alliterative idiomatic qualities of “mysconceyveth” and “mysdemeth” which
connote a brazen nature, helps lend itself to an unorthodox presentation of feminity
within a 14th century context. As in this tale, as Holly A Crocker purports, “the sense of
masculine agency that ‘the bitterness tradition” of endemic anti-feminism in medieval literature is merely
“a fantasy, a tempting gender-fiction” as the female sex is presented with a
unvanquished and unrivalled sense of profound powerful agency that subverts the
traditional subjugation of medieval women. As, once married, a woman had the
same legal status as her husband’s domestic animals, with the treatise of ‘the
goodman of Paris’ even noting that she should go as far as to emulate the behaviour
of her husband’s lapdog; and so, her magnanimous power to equivocate, implied
when she is able to deceieve January that into wrongly believing her “medicyne
fals” as “For certeinly, if that ye myghte se”, “Ye wolde nat seyn thise
wordes unto me”, reflects the shifting symbol of the woman as having a sense of
dynamism, juxtaposing their previous passivity-evidenced in the alternative, more
sensual, ending to the influential ‘Roman de La Rose’ . Moreover, one could argue
that, Chaucer presents the feminine gender with a newfound dogmatic will , not only
due to Proserpina’s gift of “suffisant answere”, but to establish a dramatic irony to
May’s slightly authoritarian, reprimanding and moralising allegory; the male sex is
presented with a supposed insolence as January is “maze, maze, goode sire-
dazed, dazed”, and ignorantly “on hire wombe he stroketh hire ful softe”.
May reigns victorious by manipulating January’s gullibility using a possible pretense
of pregnancy (illuminated through the connotations of “plit” in “a womman in my
plit moste han of the peres that I see) so much so that he even accepts the
possible rupture of his matrilineal line. The male sex’s presentation here is a
microcosm of blissful oblivion, actively participating in their own emasculation even
Consider some of the ways in which this remark might be applied to Chaucer’s presentation of gender in
The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.
Certainly for some, like Jane Barnard-Smith, May is the blatant emblem of victory, with her very name
having aptonymous symbolism of feasting within astrology-conforming to Barnard-smith’s view that “the
woman wins!”. In Chaucer’s ludicrous parody of genesis, arguably both Damian and January are
vanquished by May’s farcical romp . January ( a microcosm of the symbolic “wynter” in
reverdie lyrical poetry) is unvictorious, as “winter always fails” (Barnard-smith), and
he is left “goon with alle his reynes weete”. Similarly, Damian who “kembeth
(combs) hym, he preyneth hym and pyketh (neatens himself)” is an example
of the male sex presented as being inherently submissive, due to this triad of
satirical effictio-a digression into a blazon of one’s physical attributes found in the
romance genre- serving to amplify Damian’s lack of heroic qualities as “he dooth al
that his lady lust and lyketh”. However, there is ample cause to agree with this
statement because, as Laura Varnam puts forth -“Chaucer subtly brings into play the very system of
values that traditional fabliaux tend to work without”, and thus, May fails to be a blatant winner in the
face of patriarchy as she is still constrained by “the system of values” that demonstrates that by
commanding Damian to “sitte upon the pyrie (pear tree)” she has committed a mortal sin.
The battle of sexes arguably establishes female superiority over the foolish, cuckholded senex amans of
“olde” January, presenting the female gender with an almost impunious sense of “fresshe” sexual
potency that vanquishes the agency of the foolish old dotard; he is convinced that he “han som
glymsyng, and no parfit sighte” in a triumph of femine guile over masculine forces. For
example, with May’s almost didactic declaration to January that “he that mysconceyveth, he
mysdemeth (misunderstands, he misjudges)” after he witnessed “al hire
harlotrye” presents the female gender as self-righteous, connoted through the
proverbial preaching emphasised in the anaphora of “he”. Furthermore, the
alliterative idiomatic qualities of “mysconceyveth” and “mysdemeth” which
connote a brazen nature, helps lend itself to an unorthodox presentation of feminity
within a 14th century context. As in this tale, as Holly A Crocker purports, “the sense of
masculine agency that ‘the bitterness tradition” of endemic anti-feminism in medieval literature is merely
“a fantasy, a tempting gender-fiction” as the female sex is presented with a
unvanquished and unrivalled sense of profound powerful agency that subverts the
traditional subjugation of medieval women. As, once married, a woman had the
same legal status as her husband’s domestic animals, with the treatise of ‘the
goodman of Paris’ even noting that she should go as far as to emulate the behaviour
of her husband’s lapdog; and so, her magnanimous power to equivocate, implied
when she is able to deceieve January that into wrongly believing her “medicyne
fals” as “For certeinly, if that ye myghte se”, “Ye wolde nat seyn thise
wordes unto me”, reflects the shifting symbol of the woman as having a sense of
dynamism, juxtaposing their previous passivity-evidenced in the alternative, more
sensual, ending to the influential ‘Roman de La Rose’ . Moreover, one could argue
that, Chaucer presents the feminine gender with a newfound dogmatic will , not only
due to Proserpina’s gift of “suffisant answere”, but to establish a dramatic irony to
May’s slightly authoritarian, reprimanding and moralising allegory; the male sex is
presented with a supposed insolence as January is “maze, maze, goode sire-
dazed, dazed”, and ignorantly “on hire wombe he stroketh hire ful softe”.
May reigns victorious by manipulating January’s gullibility using a possible pretense
of pregnancy (illuminated through the connotations of “plit” in “a womman in my
plit moste han of the peres that I see) so much so that he even accepts the
possible rupture of his matrilineal line. The male sex’s presentation here is a
microcosm of blissful oblivion, actively participating in their own emasculation even
