Hood College Chaucerians

Why might Chaucer have included a ring that can translate the "language" of plants and birds?

"This mirour eek, that I have in myn hond, Hath swich a myght that men may in it see Whan ther shal fallen any adversitee Unto youre regne or to youreself also, And openly who is youre freend or foo." (Lines 132-136)                                                                     oncepodcast.com

Of sondry doutes thus they jangle and trete, As lewed peple demeth comunly Of thinges that been maad moore subtilly Than they kan in hir lewednesse comprehende; They demen gladly to the badder ende. (220-224)

This was set up to be the best tale yet, but then it barely got started at all. :( In at the halle dore al sodeynly Ther cam a knyght upon a steede of bras, And in his hand a brood mirour of glas. Upon his thombe he hadde of gold a ryng, And by his syde a naked swerd hangyng; And up he rideth to the heighe bord.  (80-85) So there’s my quote. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. I have heard of a "January-May" wedding before, and when put in the context of this story (literally), it makes me laugh. Chaucer puts a lot of meaning into the names of these characters, and I found it really amusing that May takes the "forbidden fruit" from Damien. The involvement of Pluto and Proserpina was another interesting aspect of this story, because it takes some level of decision away from the characters: when it comes down to the big reveal of January catching May in the act, the characters' lives are heavily influenced by the gods when they intervene, both in allowing January to catch May, and in giving May a "believable" excuse. I really liked reading this tale, but I couldn't quite decipher the moral of the story. Adultery is bad, but May seemingly gets away with it. Jealousy is bad, but it appears like it works out for January in the end...Ah well, an enjoyable story nonetheless.

I don't know why, but I really like this tale... Maybe because I am not into romance or conventional love stories, but this was fun to read. The narrator describes how wonderful love is, "Marriage is a ful greet sacrament" and follows with a story about deceit and adultery. I thought it was very interesting that Pluto and Proserpina decided the fate of the couple instead of Jupiter and Juno, a more conventional couple among the gods, given that Juno is the goddess of marriage and Proserpina was essentially kidnapped into marriage. It makes sense that Proserpina would have been sympathetic to May because she also had no choice in marrying her husband.  I think Chaucer chose these two gods because he wasn't actually trying to demonstrate the niceties of marriage, but rather point out the problems; specifically jealousy and adultery. The symbolism of May taking the adviser's literal fruit from the secret garden was hilarious to me; I actually laughed out loud. htt

I was not expecting the Merchant’s Tale to pull me in so many different directions but he does! In the beginning of the tale, I was all on board with his long spiel about how amazing and wonderful it is to have a wife. As a wife, I know I'm pretty awesome so I appreciated the acknowledgement. But, then January (by the way, what a name!) comes into the scene and starts talking about his specifications for a wife. I mean, she can’t even be older than 20 so I guess all of us over-20s are just doomed forever. It's cool; those women didn't want to be ol' Jan's wife anyway.  After dealing with January and his lovely character, I got some major Tristan and Isolde vibes coming from May and Damian and I was all for it! And then Hades and Persephone (Pluto and Proserpina) come in!? Be still my heart. The Merchant is ticking all my fan-girl boxes. However, at the very end of the tale I had a feeling we were dipping into biblical territory with May being tempted by Damian in t