Geoffrey Chaucer - The Prioress, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica Geoffrey Chaucer - The Prioress e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE PRIORESS - SUMMARY Chaucer describes the Prioress as a charming and elegant lady. She is named Eglantyne. She has a broad forehead, perfect nose, blue-grey eyes and a small mouth. Her smile is simple and shy. Her appearance conforms to the contemporary ideal of beauty. She only swears by 'St Loy', which sounds ironic because St Eloy was the protector of goldsmiths. She can sing the divine service very well with a pleasant nasal intonation and can speak French elegantly. She is obviously a lady who has not forgotten her aristocratic past. She tries to imitate courtly manners, which is clear in her careful table manners. Her tender heart makes her cry at the sight of dead or bleeding mice caught in a trap. She is fond of animals and feeds her dogs with roasted meat and expensive fine bread. Chaucer criticises the Prioress by praising her very faults ironically. He insists on outward behaviour because he wants to emphasise the gap between the behaviour expected of a nun and the Prioress's behaviour. Her kindness to her pet dogs is seen as a weakness. Her charity should extend towards people in need rather than animals. As a nun she should strictly follow the rules of simplicity and poverty. However, she wears jewellery as she has a red-coral rosary and an elegant gold brooch with the motto Amor vincit omnia, that is, 'love conquers all'. The inscription should rather have been Amor Dei, concerning divine love instead of worldly profane love. She wears her cloak and her veil in an elegant manner. Chaucer combines irony with realistic admiration in his presentation of the Prioress. He shares the anticlerical attitude of the period and supports the lower clergy, represented by the portrait of the Poor Parson in the 'General Prologue'