'A Professional Thyng' : The Wife as Merchant's Apprentice in the 'Shipman's Tale'

Author / Editor
Woods, William F.

Title
'A Professional Thyng' : The Wife as Merchant's Apprentice in the 'Shipman's Tale'

Published
Chaucer Review 24 (1989): 139-49.

Description
The social background of ShT offers a rationale for the actions of the characters, especially of the wife. Her struggle to achieve parity in her mercantile marriage transforms her into a reflection of her husband. The monk, who is a "competing interest," aids this transformation.

Chaucer Subjects
Shipman and His Tale.