Writing about the Tale under time

The shape of the question

Part one sets an extract from anywhere in the set section and asks how Chaucer's poetic techniques work in it; it is marked on argument and analysis only, so context earns nothing here, however good it is. Part two sets a statement about the whole text to argue with, and there the marking adds context and other readings to the mix. Since the exam can pull its extract from anywhere between the Prologue's first line and the Tale's last blessing, full coverage of the text is the only safe preparation, and although the book is open, the clock means your key quotations need to live in your head.

Part one: the extract

1. Locate, then read the tone. Two sentences of introduction: where the extract sits in the poem, what is happening, and what tone it is delivered in. The class rule is blunt: if you miss the tone, you miss the meaning, and in this poem the tone is nearly always doing at least two things at once.
2. Answer the question in one sentence before you analyse anything, so every paragraph after it has a spine.
3. Track the extract chronologically, hunting the shift: the examiner chose these lines because something turns inside them. Use the opening and closing lines; they were chosen too.
4. Go for range. A dozen short embedded quotations beat four long ones. Vary the techniques you name: rhyme pairs that link ideas, word order, apostrophe, repetition, register shifts between courtly and vulgar, the intrusions of the narrator.
5. Keep asking who is speaking. Ironic praise, mock apology, borrowed scripture: in this Tale the technique is usually the voice.

Part two: the essay

Every whole-text essay stands on the three layers: January's story, told by the Merchant, written by Chaucer. Define the statement's key terms, place the Tale in its world with context that serves the argument, and bring another reading in by name to argue with; the Critics page exists for exactly that move. Build the body as thesis, antithesis and synthesis: the best evidence for the statement, the best evidence against it, and your own position earned from the collision. Conclude by standing back to Chaucer's design, and let the ending's ambiguity be a strength of your argument rather than a failure of the poem.

Practice questions

The class bank of whole-text questions. Any of these can be planned as a five-paragraph argument in ten minutes; planning ten of them is better revision than writing three in full.

1. Discuss how far January might be accused of attempting to manipulate the sanctity of marriage for his own devices in The Merchant’s Tale.
2. ‘Women in The Merchant’s Tale can only be regarded as malign and deceitful.’ How far do you agree with the above assessment of the female characters?
3. Explore the ways in which the subjects of love and romance are considered within the Tale.
4. ‘January, victim or villain.’ Discuss.
5. Discuss the significance of settings within the Prologue and Tale.
6. Discuss how far this Tale is a fitting device for the Merchant.
7. Discuss how the subjects of trickery and deception are explored in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.
8. ‘He that misconceyveth, he misdemeth.’ How far might this be considered a fitting definition of The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale?
9. What are some of the ways that blindness is important to the Merchant’s Tale?
10. To what extent do you agree that The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale is just a cynical attack on marriage?
11. Consider the presentation of power in The Merchant’s Tale.
12. Discuss the significance of the garden in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.
13. ‘The main theme of The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale is the conflict between youth and age.’ Discuss.
14. How far can we see The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale as a study of the dangers of disloyalty?
15. How far does May conform to a traditional female stereotype in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale?
16. How far is it possible to see Damian as a courtly lover?
17. How far does The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale conform to the genre of fabliau?
18. ‘The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale explores individuals rather than stereotypes.’ Discuss.
19. ‘The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale highlights the dangers of pursuing pleasure over reason.’ Discuss.
20. How far is it possible to sympathise with May in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale?
21. Explore the ways in which conflict is presented in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale.
22. To what extent do all the characters get what they deserve in The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale?

For extract practice, take any passage this page's questions gesture at, the marriage debate, the wedding night, the blinding, the garden speech, the pear tree, set a timer for twenty minutes, and work the five steps above. The hypertext edition gives you every extract the examiner can choose from.