Lesson Plan One
- In this lesson we will look at our introduction to the Merchant in the General Prologue and the Prologue to the Tale and then trace the ways in which commerce and commercial activity: the profit imperative, underpin the Tale itself.
The learning objective is
- To develop our understanding of the ways in which the Merchant's own character and attitudes shape and colour the narrative and the big ideas he deals with.
By the end of this lesson we should be able to answer the question
- ‘How far does the Tale reflect and develop the character of its teller?
Preparation
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As part of your preparation you should have looked again and in detail at the text.
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Make sure you are familiar with the narrative and the stages by which it is developed and the point at which these exchanges occur. (See the commentary for this.)
Starter Activity
In pairs decide which three are the most important points made by Chaucer the pilgrim about the Merchant here: then go on to a plenary classroom discussion and try and agree on the five things you really need to take away from this passage.
These are the key lines of introduction in the General Prologue:-
A Marchant was ther with a forked berd,
In motteleye, and hye on horse he sat;
Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bevere hat;
His bootes clasped faire and fetisly.
His resons he spak ful solémpnely,
Sownynge alway thencrees of his wynnyng.
He wolde the see were kept for any…
