Week 5 - Prioress's Tale

[Everyman]

For this tale, we have to accept the mores of the times in which it was written (as we had to do with certain language in Huckleberry Finn), and not judge it by our standards of acceptability.

It is a pious tale, as befits a Prioress (so far, actually, it seems to me that all the tellers have told tales fitting to their station in life, a thought we may want to discuss at some point), continuing in a way the duality nature of the Man of Law's tale, this time with a virgin Mother and a widowed Mother. It also seems, as somebody (sorry for forgetting who) mentioned in an earlier tale, of what seem to me quite flat, stereotyped, almost personalityless characters -- the pure innocent young boy, the purely wicked killers, the frantic mother searching until she almost collapses in grief, the miracle of the Virgin. It's as though the story is all that matters, and the characters are just there to carry it along. At least, that's how I see it. How do others?

[Laurel]

Everyman wrote: "For this tale, we have to accept the mores of the times in which it was written (as we had to do with certain language in Huckleberry Finn), and not judge it by our standards of acceptability.

..."

I agree. When I was a child I read some saint tales owned by a young friend. Many of them were pretty much like this. I wouldn't want to have to read too many of these.

[Everyman]

If you substitute some neutral villains for those named in the tale, or perhaps a legitimately nasty group such as a drug cartel, it becomes a much more acceptable tale, still a bit depressing in the death of the young boy, but also a tale of hope and affirmation, no?

[Laurel]

Everyman wrote: "If you substitute some neutral villains for those named in the tale, or perhaps a legitimately nasty group such as a drug cartel, it becomes a much more acceptable tale, still a bit depressing in t..."

That's a good idea.

[Thomas]

Her tale is an interesting contrast to the way she is depicted in the General Prologue, where she is seen as so delicate that she weeps at the sight of a mouse in a trap and otherwise is "al conscience and tendre herte." Her greatest pleasure is in etiquette, and her dress and deportment are picture-perfect.

And then she goes on to tell what is a kind of horror story, the medieval version of a slasher movie. Maybe I'm wrong, but the pious core of the story seems to be just a pretext for telling a gory shocker of a tale. This tale is more violent than the Knight's, whose business is violence. At the end of the tale, as the travelers are shocked into "sobriety," there is an implication that the Prioress is not all she appears to be. And I wonder if she isn't hiding a wicked grin...

[Everyman]

Thomas wrote: "And then she goes on to tell what is a kind of horror story, the medieval version of a slasher movie. Maybe I'm wrong, but the pious core of the story seems to be just a pretext for telling a gory shocker of a tale. This tale is more violent than the Knight's, whose business is violence. "

Interesting perspective. I had focused more on the miracle aspects (and on the demonetization of a class it was not only acceptable but de rigeur to demonize at the time) than on the violent nature of the tale. But you're absolutely right.

Would that ironical aspect of it have struck the original audience (and Chaucer himself)? After all, that was a pretty brutal age, and the early death of children was as much the norm as the exception. Violence against children pops red flags up in the modern conscience, but would it have in theirs?

[MadgeUK]

Thomas wrote: violence. At the end of the tale, as the travelers are shocked into "sobriety," there is an implication that the Prioress is not all she appears to be...."

I think it is Chaucer again saying that Prioresses, and other religious folk, are not all that they seem, that there is hypocrisy behind the pious behaviour:).

[Galicius]

Everyman wrote: "For this tale, we have to accept the mores of the times in which it was written (as we had to do with certain language in Huckleberry Finn), and not judge it by our standards of acceptability.

..."

The “mores of the times” would apply to the punishment of the times as well. There are stories a-plenty as described here from the Middle Ages down. Whether the punishment fits the crime is not even an issue in history. We have hangings of thieves down to the 19th Century and let’s not dismiss the horrors of the 20th that met millions of innocents.

[Jennifer]

Thomas wrote: "Her tale is an interesting contrast to the way she is depicted in the General Prologue, where she is seen as so delicate that she weeps at the sight of a mouse in a trap and otherwise is "al consci..."

I hadn't thought about her tale this way, and it makes me appreciate it more, Thomas. It's a shame the tales aren't completed. I would have liked to see if she had another tale like this to tell.