Prologue of the Prioress in Canterbury Tales - 1029 Words

In the Middle Ages, a woman might have several reasons to be a nun. Some of them, for example, wanted to dedicate themselves to the God; or their families couldn’t afford a daughter and sent them to the convent; or they were not attractive enough to appeal a man and got marriage so they went to the convent. Although we don’t know the reason the prioress becoming the nun, she mustn’t have gone to the convent because of believing in god for she lacked a true religious calling. Besides, as for her background, there are many suggestions she was from a noble family. Last but not the least, the brooch the prioress wore had some words: â€Å"Amor vincit omnia† which means â€Å"love conquers all†. Nevertheless, her â€Å"amor† wasn’t to the god but to other†¦show more content†¦It represented a part of the rotten religious world. The prioress’s French indicates her education. She spoke French good and elegantly, but she had never been to France. It seems that she was taught French in England. Without living in France, she must have been given a good environment or a fine teacher to learn French while the convent didn’t have so enough resource. Therefore, she learned it at other place—the family she belonged that could afford to give a daughter a well education. However, having so well environment but not going to France to learn more, the prioress shows her superficiality of limited learning. The love of the prioress is an irony. Her love described in the prologue was not to the God but to the little animals. She did many things with her charity and love that others believed she love animals by heart. Nevertheless, no matter she loved animals by heart or not, her major intention was to be a woman of empathy in other’s eyes. The reason is like why she did good table manner—she wanted to earn other’s esteem. In addition, she showed her compassion to mice was another irony. The God was the highest status respected by followers, but the prioress pitied on a mouse which was at very low status hated by people. In addition, England just went through the most dreadful period, Black Death—mice were the symbol of death at that time. It seems that she didn’t know this misfortune in the world but pretended having love ofShow MoreRelatedEssay on Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales1261 Words   |  6 PagesGeoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales The Knight, Squire, Prioress, The Monk and the Friar are defined by their settings in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. 1. Portnoy says in his article in the Chaucer Review that The General Prologue is like a mirror reflecting the individuals appearance which then defines the character of that person.(281) 2. 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