May's Mismarriage of Youth and Elde: The Poetics of Sexual Desire in Chaucer's 'Merchant's Tale'
- Author / Editor
- Jost, Jean (E.)
May's Mismarriage of Youth and Elde: The Poetics of Sexual Desire in Chaucer's 'Merchant's Tale'
- Published
- Bonnie Wheeler, ed. Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Academia Press, 1993), pp. 117-38.
- Description
- Not acknowledged or accounted for, feminine desire is a powerful force in the plot of MerT. Because January ignores May's sexual desires, he involuntarily provokes her to pursue a more appropriate mate. May takes what January proffers--his money and his squire--after she has given what he desires--pleasure and an heir--indicating that feminine sexuality "wol out."
- Alternative Title
- Feminea Medievalia I: Representations of the Feminine in the Middle Ages.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Merchant and His Tale.