There is substantial evidence in the Prologue to support the impression that the Merchant is bitter about his marriage. He says, "I have a wyf, the worste that may be", and uses extreme metaphorical imagery to convey the depth of her "malice", going so far as to say that she would "overmacche" the devil in wickedness. It is also clear that the Merchant believes that he has been trapped into marriage, saying that were he unmarried, "I wolde nevere eft comen in the snare", presenting for the first time the idea of the woman as a sexual predator, which is again reinforced in the Tale. The short time-scale of two months in which his marriage has disintegrated explains the strength of the Merchant's bitterness, and it is this sentiment that creates the emotional backdrop of the Tale.

The previous telling of the Clerk's Tale provokes the Merchant's sudden...