Abstract
In using a feminist archetypal approach, this essay is intended to shed some light on specific archetypal patterns in Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale and seven Arabic tales. This essay argues that there are some primordial, universal and recurrent archetypes which connect those texts together. In so doing, this essay investigates how those archetypes (i.e. tree, garden, billet-doux, key) are associated with the cunning wife archetype, which can be encapsulated as “uxor callida Complex.” This hybrid archetype is, so to speak, pollinated by a cluster of archetypes. Notable among those archetypes is the tree archetype which remains the sine qua non of that hybrid archetype, making up into what might be phrased as “the cunning wife/fruit tree” syndrome. This study aims at tracing their roots to religious texts and mythology. This archetypal collating of those narratives offers deep insights into the dynamics of the collective unconsciousness of the two cultures that produce those tales. By way of concluding, it can be suggested that the tales incorporating those archetypes are modifications, if not translations, of an underlying ur-myth that has its allure in English and Arabic cultures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For more discussions on this article, see Heffernan (2003b, pp. 66–83).
A similar story to Chaucer's The Merchant's Tale is found in Alfonse's Disciplina Clericalis (1919), which is a translation of oriental literature. In Alfonse's "The Blind Man Deceived by his Wife," a blind and jealous husband was cuckolded by his fair wife, who asked him to walk in the garden and then to climb the pear tree to gather some fairy fruits. She took advantage of the blindness of her husband by making love with a young man. In order to make the husband discover the true nature of his wife, Jupiter and Venus intervened in restoring his sight. Like the pear tree in Chaucer's story, the pear tree in Alfonse's story is associated with sexuality and fornication. It is possible that this story was translated from Arabic literature, but it is so difficult to identify the source text of this story in Arabic literature (pp. 9–10).
The slight differences between these versions are of no significance.
In The Spring of The Pious, the name of the Israeli woman is Sawsan.
In German and Dutch, “comparing apples with pears” means comparing similarities that are different.
All references to Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale are from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1951). Nevill Coghill (Trans.). London: Penguin.
Translation is my own.
Al-Jawhari suggests that the words, ijjas or injas, are not originally Arabic (as cited in Ibn Manthoor, n. d., vol. 5, p. 152).
For more details, see Simmons-O'Neill (1990, pp. 361, 362).
The sycamore tree is also translated as shajarat al-jummaiz. According to Ibn Manthoor (n.d., vol. 5, p. 324), Al-jummaiz (which usually grow in the Levant) is a tall tree, whose red and sweet fruits are called figs.
Abu Al-Faraj Abd Al-Rahman Bin Abi Al-Hasan Al-Bikri (circa 1114–1203).
Translation is my own.
References
Al-Abshihi, M. Sh. (n. d.). Al-mustatraf fi kulli fannin mustathraf. (English: Funniest and humorous folklore). Cairo: Arabian Republic Library.
Al-Azdi, A. B. Th. (n. d.). Gharai’b al-tanbihata’ le a’jai’b al-tashbihat. (English: Exotic alerts on wonders of similes). M. Z. Salam & M. A. Al-Juwaini (Eds.). Cairo. Dar El-Ma’rif.
Al-Hilali, M. & Muhsin Khan, M. Trans. (1994). Interpretation of the meanings of the noble Quran in the English language: A summarized version of At-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir with comments from Sahih Al-Bukhari. Riyadh: Maktaba Dar-us- Salam.
Alphonse, P. (1919). Disciplina clericalis. (W. H. Hulme, Trans.) (Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 1–71). Cleveland: Western Reserve University Bulletin.
Al-zabidi, M. M. (1973, 1974, 1980, 2001). Taj al-Aroos min jawahir al-qamoos. (The crown of the bride from the jewels of the dictionary). (Vols. 14.19). A. Al- Tahawi (Ed.). (Vols. 12, 37). M. Hijazi (Ed.). Kuwait: Al-Kuwait Government Press.
Al-Zamakhshari, A. M. (1992). Rabi’ al-abrar wa nosoos al-akhbar (English: The spring of the pious and the texts of news) (Vol. 3). A. Mhanna (Ed.). Beirut: Al-A’alami’s Institution for Publications.
Besserman, L. (1998). Chaucer’s biblical poetics. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Bhabha, H. K. (1990). Nation and narration. London: Routledge.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge.
Bin Sirin, M. (1999). Tafseer al-ahlam. (English: Interpretation of dreams). Cairo: Maktabat Misr.
Bin Sirin, M. (2002). Muntakhab al-kalam fi tafseer al-ahlam. (English: Specimens from the interpretation of dreams). Arranged by M. T. Halabi. Beirut: Dar El-Marefah.
Braddy, H. (1941). The genre of Chaucer’s Squire’s tale. Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 41, 279–290.
Bryan, E. F., & Dempster, G. (Eds.). (1958). Sources and analogues of the Canterbury Tales. New Jersey: Humanities Press.
Burton, R. F. (1897). Trans. The book of thousand nights and one. (Vols. 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12). L. Smithers (Ed.). London: H. S. Nichols.
Calabrese, M. A. (1990). May devoid of all delight: January, the Merchant’s Tale, and the Romance of the Rose. Studies in Philology, 87(3), 261–284.
Chaucer, G. (1951). The Canterbury Tales. (N. Coghill Trans.). London: Penguin.
Clouston, W. A. (1888). The enchanted tree: Asiatic versions and analogues of Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale. In F. J. Furnivall, E. Brock, & W. A. Clouston (Eds.), Originals and analogues of some of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (pp. 341–364). London: N. Trubner & Co.
Frye, N. (2002). The literary meaning of ‘archetype’. In R. D. Denham (Ed.), Northrop Frye on literature and society 1936–1989 (pp. 182–189). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Frye, N. (2005). Blake’s treatment of the archetype. In A. Esterhammer (Ed.), Northrop Frye on Milton and Blake (pp. 190–206). Toronto: University of Toronto.
Fumo, J. C. (2002). An interpretive Crux in Januarie’s garden: Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale and the crucifixion. Mediaevalia, 23, 1–37.
Goldberg, D. (2010). Star wars: The impact of Jungian archetypes within the star wars trilogy on moviegoers. Umi. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
Heffernan, F. C. (2003a). Three unnoticed links between Matthew of Vendome’s Comedia Lidie and Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale. Notes and Queries, 50(2), 158–162.
Heffernan, F. C. (2003b). The Orient in Chaucer and medieval romance. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
Ibn Al-Jawzi, A. (1991). Akhbar al-nisaa’. (English: News of women). I. Karim (Ed.). Beirut: Dar Al- Nadim.
Ibn Al-Jawzi, A. (2003). Akhbar al-athkiyaa’ (English: News of the intelligent). Limassol: Al-Jaffan& Al-Jabi.
Ibn Manthoor, M. (n.d.). Lisan al-arab.(Vols. 4, 5, 7, 12, 14). Beirut: Dar Sader.
Irwin, R. (2005). The Arabian Nights: A companion. London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks.
Jung, C. G. (1953). Psychological aspects of the mother archetype. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1959). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kellogg, A. L. (1960). Susannah and the Merchant’s Tale. Speculum, 35, 275–279.
Marzolph, U., Leeuwen, R., & Wassouf, H. (2004). The Arabian nights encyclopedia. California: ABC-CLIO.
Metlitzki, D. (1977). The matter of Araby in medieval England. London: Yale University Press.
Pearcy, R. J. (2000). Anglo-Norman fabliaux and Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale. Medium Aevum, 69(2), 227–260.
Pearson, C. (1989). The hero within: Six archetypes we live by. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Said, E. (1978, 2003). Orientalism. London: Penguin.
Schofield, W. H. (1906). English literature from the Norman conquest to Chaucer. London, New York: Macmillan and Co., & the Macmillan Company.
Simmons-O’Neill, E. (1990). Love in hell the role of Pluto and Proserpine in Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale. Modern Language Quarterly, 51(3), 389–407.
Staley, L. (2012). The island garden: England’s language of nation from Gildas to Marvell. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Thompson, N. S. (2005). The Merchant’s Tale. In R. M. Correale & M. Hamel (Eds.), Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales (II, 479–535). Chaucer studies 35. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
Tucker, H. (2003). Pregnant fictions: Childbirth and the fairy tale in early modern France. Michigan: Wayne State University Press.
Wheelwright, Ph., Brooks, C., Richards, I. A., & Stevens, W. (1960). The language of poetry (A. Tate Ed.). New York: Russell.
Zweig, C., & Abrams, J. (Eds.). (1991). Meeting the shadow. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank editor-in-chief, Prof. Peter Hajdu, and two anonymous reviewers (of Neohelicon) for their interesting suggestions and comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al-Garrallah, A.S. ‘The cunning wife/fruit tree’ syndrome: Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale and seven Arabic stories. Neohelicon 42, 671–686 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-015-0307-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-015-0307-8