The Prioress and her tale, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica The Prioress and her tale e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The prioress is a main character of the Canterbury Tales. Her real name is Madame Eglantyne, and she is the fourth character to be introduced in the Prologue. Though she is a stereotype that represents the virtues and ideals of a nun, the Prioress represents a courtly lady rather than a superior nun. Chaucer gives us very vivid descriptions of the prioress. The Prioress’ description is divided into four parts: What does her name means; The way she behaved in church; How she sympathized with her lap dogs; Her physical appearance and what she wore. Her eyes were “glass-gray”, her nose was small and elegant, and her mouth was dainty, soft and red and her forehead was quite large. The prioress dressed conservatively and completes the outfit with a cloak and a veil. She wore her veil gathered all together out of her face although the veil is supposed to be pinned so tightly against her own eyebrows that none of her forehead shows. Eglantyne’s outer clothing is also ambiguous, she wears jewellery as she as a red-coral rosary and an elegant gold brooch with the motto Amor vincit omnia, that means, ‘love conquers all’ which refers probably to earthly love. That clearly shows that she’s more concerned with material possessions and a comfortable life, than with the bare, impoverished life of a nun, free of wealth and fine clothing and how she broke monastic rules by not following the vowl of poverty. The prioress is imitating the courtly ways that she wishes to project as her own. The prioress’ whole persona that she shows to her fellow travelers is a sham. The prioress imitates these courtly manners of royalty, and she also shows sensitivity to the innocent. She has little lap dogs with her, and she is in great distress if they are mistreated. As we shall see, the prioress’ loving nature towards animals is at odds with her vindictiveness and unmerciful attitude towards the Jews in her tale. Chaucer tells the reader of the prioress’ fascination with helpless animals, and her kind treatment thereof, to show paradox of this lady’s character. There’s a big gap between appearance and reality that she’s not aware of. Chaucer combines irony (touch of criticism) with realistic admiration in his presentation of the prioress and he wants us to like her.