Lesson Plan Two
- This lesson is all about the first of the two aspects of the Tale we looked at last time: commerce, profit and the Merchant's number one priority of 'th'encrees of his wynnyng'.
The learning objective is
- To see the extent to which the characters are driven by the lust for money as well as the lust of Januarie, Damyan and May for sex. And consequently their concern with appearances, which mask this and seem to want to imply conventional respectability, especially in terms of religious practice and belief.
By the end of this lesson we should be able to answer the question
- What is said, what is the context and what does it tell us about the true intentions of the central players in the story? Perhaps that, to get you going, money is the root of all evil?
Preparation
-
Remind yourselves of the sections of the tale as outlined in the commentary: in pairs, work through them and look for references to trading, business, profit and loss and the sacrosanct importance of land and property. What is said, what is the context and what does it tell us about the true intentions of the central players in the story?
L 1-186
- We have only just started on the encomium to marriage when we read
To take a wif it is a glorious thing
And namely whan a man is oold and hoor;
Thanne is a wyf the fruit of his tresor.......
- She will become the 'treasure' of his life, literally his wealth: his money and assets.
Taking a beautiful young woman as his wife will…
