The Merchant's Tale and Fabliau

In doing some background reading for "The Merchant's Tale," I came across a word, fabliau, that I hadn't yet heard before. It may be that I am slow in coming to this word, but I don't think that I had ever read anything before this class that was accompanied by the use of this phrase. In a broad sense, a fabliau is a short tale usually characterized by overly sexual or lewd themes, which brought to mind a question. Is "The Merchant's Tale" anything more than a fabliau, or is it simply a story told for obscene effect and the criticism of women? (Another characteristic is the criticism of women.) I realize that there are numerous instances where claims could be made for both support or denial of the fabliau concept, and in researching this idea, found an article that deals with this claim, offering interesting support of the fabliau, but also bringing new theories to light. The merchant was newly married after all, and, as the article suggests, could be responding to his own "shrewish wife."

Stevens, Martin. "And Venus Laugheth: An Interpretation of the Merchant's Tale." The Chaucer Review 7.2 (1972): 118-31. Jstor. Web. 7 Oct. 2015. <jstor.org>.