The Shipman's Tale

Shipman's tale is another master piece by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Shipman tells a story about a merchant, his wife and a frequently visiting monk called Dan John, who pretends to be the merchant's cousin. The wife secretly asks the monk to lend her money. She even told the monk how she was doing with her husband, "Mine husband is to me the worst. man, That ever was since that the world began,"Canterbury Tale, Line 1352-55. The monk gladly promises to bring her the money she asks. "Lend me this sum, or els. must I die! Daun John, I say, lend me these hundred franks!,"Canterbury Tale, Line 1375-79. The interchangeability and exchangeability of sex and money are emphatically elaborated in the Shipman's Tale. "That for these hundred franks he should all night Have her in his arm.s bolt upright." Canterbury Tale, Line 1505-07.The monk breaks his vows with God and he shows himself as a manipulator by falsely claiming that he is related to the merchant. Not content with taking advantage of the wife's desperate position regarding money, he betrays her confidence and his actions risk her unfaithfulness being revealed. He seems to profit from his relationship with the merchant and his wife and the joke is on them.This story demonstrates that the vision of life as a purely mercantile arrangement sterilizes those who hold it so that all human values disappear, including that of human awareness. No-one in the story perceived any significance in their actions beyond the immediate financial loss or gain that was incurred.