Despite the varied contexts in which they wrote their work, as well as the very different tone and content, Chaucer in "The Merchants Tale" and Webster through "The Duchess of Malfi", explore the theme of forbidden love - or forbidden desire - and its attractions and implications. Although Chaucer's humorous fabliau of adultery and grotesque failures certainly contrasts with the twisted tale of status and gender imbalance in Webster's tragedy, both writers seem to indicate in their respective texts the contradictory forces of consequences negative forbidden relationships, as well as their intense magnetism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Chaucer, through the relationship between May and Damyan, explores the concept that the main attraction of a romance might be its forbidden nature. Damyan's "love" for May is most often described in the pain he experiences from not being with her, as his "longing for love" and attraction. While May's character appears to be primarily motivated by lust, on the first occasion she and Damyan "had dressed/in a different way, it may not have been expressed", implying that their love affair is driven by sexual impulse rather than romantic love. Because Chaucer's poetry is a fabliaux, the characters are not fully realized and instead serve as stock characters to serve the story, and at the time of Damyan's love letter to May, she had not received any dialogue. This further implies that their attraction to each other does not extend beyond desire. Additionally, the concept that May's only interest in Damyan being his forbidden and inaccessible status is underscored by their sexual engagement in the tree - Eve had the choice of all the fruits in the Garden of Eden but sought the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Similarly, in the Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess's love for Antonio seems to have been inspired by the mastery of her sexual feelings by her brothers, the Cardinal and Ferdinand. The juxtaposition of the scene in which her brother declares her a "vigorous widow" and implores that she allow "neither youth, nor high promotion, nor eloquence...influence your high blood", immediately followed by his assertion that she will “wink and choose a husband.” seem to imply that her initial attraction to Antonio emerges not because of his personal merits or qualities, but rather from his magnetism for the forbidden. His choice of Antonio as his partner only strengthens this argument. Marrying any man would anger her brother Ferdinand, who rallies against the idea of ​​the Duchess remarrying despite the ideas of the time - a widow, who had much more power and authority than a woman single, was encouraged to marry as soon as possible. she was seen as a threat to the patriarchal order. However, her marriage to a man far below her status presents a more conventional forbidden romance than just her brothers telling her not to do it. Social mobility was a much-feared concept, and the Duchess's disregard for social norms, represented by her telling Antonio to "raise your hand/...(her) hand to help you", could signify attraction specific that she cites in Antonio- his forbidden nature as someone of lower status than her. That said, Webster describes the Duchess's love for Antonio as a much less amoral romance than that of May and Damyan in the Merchants' tale. Despite the duchess' undoubtedly stronger moral sense thanthat of the cardinal and her mental state healthier than that of Ferdinand, she naturally presents herself as inferior to her brothers due to the patriarchal ideals of the 16th and 17th centuries. Her decision to marry Antonio is forbidden only because the Duchess's will is suppressed by her brothers, and her marriage to Antonio seems in part to justify their romance as holy and moral, with the Duchess asking "what can the Church force?" ". Cariola's presence makes the marriage between the Duchess and Antonio legally and morally bound in the religious context of Webster's time, and the Duchess's defiance of what her brothers deem forbidden, rather than what l 'Church, arguably puts the Duchess on a moral high ground and makes her seem like a more sympathetic character. This directly contrasts with the forbidden nature of the romance between May and Damyan, in which both directly violate the sanctity. of the marital bond by committing infidelity Rather than exploring Damyan's moral turmoil over the pursuit of a married woman, or arousing sympathy for May through her marriage to the lusty old January, Chaucer. presents both as morally weak. This is evidenced by May and Damyan's copulation which takes place in "a tree... laden with fruit", a play on the image of original sin beginning at the tree of knowledge, in the Garden of Eden. Chaucer's comparison of May and Eve in this way is quite unforgiving, and his increasing calculation, beckoning Damyan to climb the tree as she tells January that "(she) is not a girl", contributes to the idea that his pursuit of the forbidden Damyan is immoral and calculated. Although the Duchess and May's pursuit of forbidden tastes results, initially, in satisfaction (emotional or sexual), in some ways both Chaucer and Webster present the manifestation of forbidden tastes as disturbing rather than "sweet" . Ferdinand's obsession with his sister's sexual acts becomes increasingly disconcerting throughout the play, and the audience's view of his character is heavily influenced by his need for the forbidden. Although the Cardinal certainly shows disgust at the idea of ​​the Duchess having sex (to his knowledge) outside of marriage in Act II Scene 5, he remains relatively impersonal and simply shows aversion to it. idea of ​​the Duchess “sleeping under her”, expressing with contempt “our blood… will it be affected in this way? In contrast, Ferdinand shows extreme, unfiltered rage at the idea, fuming "I (will) tear her to pieces", and his anger at the man who impregnated his sister implies a very disturbing jealousy in a brother. His references to the Duchess's "milk" and "blood" show an unsavory obsession with her body and his generally unpleasant behavior could be Webster's way of conveying to the audience that they should not venture into what is prohibited and immoral. Similarly, Chaucer presents January's legal, but arguably transgressive, marriage to May as disreputable and grotesque. Although January's marriage to May is not unethical in a religious sense - ironically, he goes the extra mile to make sure he is married before having sex with May so he can have a “legitimate procreation” – and the context of the time did not allow it. A rare situation for a much older man to marry a younger woman, Chaucer nevertheless creates the image of January's relationship with May as repugnant, even humorous to the audience. Chaucer's description of January as having a beard "like the skin of a fish-dog" and "the soft skin around his nekke trembles" is repellent, and juxtaposes his eagerness to have relationships,.