The Merchant's Tale

In the face of vociferous protestations from his friends, age-withered January selects a radiant young wife. His beloved—innocence embodied, to the untrained eye—wastes little time acquainting herself with his servants. Taking advantage of her husband’s blindness, she explores her carnal appetite with his footman, with little regard for dignity. Chaucer’s genius is to elevate her transgression to the level of gender politics; as deities intervene to decide the plight of future man and woman, the full import of January and May’s relationship is revealed.