The Effect of the Merchant's Tale

Author / Editor
Donaldson, E. Talbot.

Title
The Effect of the Merchant's Tale

Published
Speaking of Chaucer (New York: Norton, 1970), pp. 30-45.

Description
Reads MerT as an "intensely bitter story," dilating upon the "central juxtaposition of the seemingly, or potentially, beautiful with the unmistakably ugly," examining the nuances of several words, discussing the "vacuity" of the marriage encomium, and assessing the derogation of "things-as-they-are" and several biblical passages in the Tale.

Alternative Title
Speaking of Chaucer.

Chaucer Subjects
Merchant and His Tale
Language and Word Studies
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations