The Merchant's Tale presents another view of the old man and his very young bride. This tale gives to the Western world the name that characterizes this type of union. January is a very old man who has married a lovely young lass named May: Today a January-May union simply means an old man married to a woman much younger than himself. In The Merchant's Tale, the cuckolding of the old man by his young bride and her young lover differs from The Miller's Tale in that there is a significance difference in the social class. January is no obscene carpenter whose gullibility is credible because he is not of the class associated with the intellect. Instead, in The Merchant's Tale, we have a knight who has been involved in many trysts and who should be experienced in dealing with such matters. And while the trick played on the carpenters by Alison and Nicholas is far more complicated and imaginative, the trick played on the old doddering January was found in popular tales of the time and is commonly referred to as the "Pear-Tree episode."
While old January was able to perform successfully on his wedding night, he has seemingly spent himself entirely and cannot satisfy his young wife anymore, or at least, not often enough. Thus, as in all stories of this type, our sympathy lies with the young bride. The reader, early in the story, assumes that, because the older man has trouble coping with his young wife in bed, he will be cuckolded by a younger, handsomer, more virile young man. The suspense lies only in when the young man will show up and how the tryst will be arranged. As with The Miller's Tale, where the choice of the names is important, here the choice of names support the Merchant's point-of-view. "January" (old with white hair like snow) marries May (young and as beautiful as the unpacked spring flowers).
Chaucer has given us excellent character sketches in January and May. Now in his dotage, having expended his youth on wild exploitation of young females, and wanting male heirs to inherit his title and lands, January bargains for more than he is capable of. And thus, young May is left in difficult situation. Ultimately then, like Alison, May's predicament is not of her own making, and it is not her faithlessness that concerns the audience, but her clever intrigue and her supreme audacity when she is caught. Thus The Miller's Tale and The Merchant's Tale share another commonality: Old John in The Miller's Tale is cuckolded in his own home while foolishly believing that a new Noah's flood is descending on the world, and old January's cuckolding takes place in his secret and private garden — a foolish sort of Eden or a fool's paradise. Both tales share a sense of high comedy and not immorality.
