My group and I decided to read the Skipper's Tale. I'm not 100% sure if I understand all that I read, but what I have gathered it this: The skipper tells a story about a merchant with a very pleasant wife who tends to spend too much money on his friends and for pleasure. One of his very best friends, the monk Don John, visits the merchant's house very frequently but is always met with joy. The merchant and Don John are so close actually that they say that they are kin, though they are actually not. One night, the merchant is forced to stay locked in his room until nine while he calculates his earnings and spendings for the year. That same day the wife and Don John meet in the garden, and the wife reveals to Don John that she is very unhappy in bed with her husband, as well as in a couple other areas. Don John admits that he has always had a special love for the wife and claims that he wants her to be happy. The wife says that to be happy she needs 100 frances by the next day (I'm not sure that for though) and she asks Don John if he could supply her with that. He says that he can, and the wife says pretty much that she will do anything he wants now. He grabs her by the flanks (???) and they embrace, then say their good-byes. Meanwhile, the merchant comes to the conclusion that he is in debt. That night Don John asks to borrow 100 frances from the merchant, who happily agrees, and Don John says that he must keep it between them. The merchant leaves the next day to ask various frieds for money to pay for his debt, and the wife and Don John meet up so that the wife can receive the money and "lead a merry night in mirth" together before Don John is on his way home. The merchant stops by his house the next day and asks for the 100 frances back, and Don John says that he already returned them to the merchant's wife. The merchant returns home and his wife greets him happily now that he is not in debt anymore. The merchant tells her that she should have told him that Don John already paid him back, because he accidentally upset him earlier when asking for the money back that was already paid. The wife apologizes and says she will pay the merchant back in acts in bed. Amen.
I would say that the main character of the tale would be the merchant. Through indirect characterization you can gather that (1) he is a family man, due to the way he is very pleased that his good friend the monk considers him kin. (2) You can gather that the merchant is not a selfish man because he throws extravagant parties for his friends and loans money to those in need without a second thought. (3) You can gather that the merchant is a lover of good times, and not completely obsessed with work unless it calls his total attention, because he makes sure to invite the monk to dinner before he goes on a business trip. (4) It is obvious that the merchant is a hard worker who prefers to work in private because he spends a lot of the morning figuring his finances alone in his room. (5) Lastly, you get the impression that the merchant is also overly-trusting, by the way he does not realize that the man he feeds and gives money too is secretly having an affair with his wife.
I think that Chaucer is satirizing the holiness of marriage and how husbands and wives are supposed to stay true, and the idea that you never truly know who the people you call your friends are. The merchant in a way represents the side that most people try to show the world; honest, hard-working, and loyal. It is ironic that it is the monk, who holds a holy position, instead of the merchant, who is known to rip people off and give them bad deals, that is the adulterer. It also is meant to show how two-faced anyone can be. The monk calls the merchant his "kin" but is very quick to deny him when the wife says that she can't tell him something because he is kin to her husband. Also, the wife complains to the monk about her lack of pleasure in bed with her husband, but the first chance she gets she tries to seduce her husband, even though she has seduced his friend the previous day.
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