Portray the character of the Prioress.

Answer

Portray the character of the Prioress. [2020] ✪✪✪ 

Or, How does Chaucer portray the character of the Prioress? [2017]

Or, How does Chaucer portray the Prioress? [2016]

Or, Comment on the character of the Prioress. [2015]

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) beautifully paints Madame Eglantine, the Prioress, in “The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales”. She is gentle, kind, and elegant. But her worldly manners and love of beauty show that she is more lady than nun.

A Lady of Manners and Politeness: The Prioress tries to act like a noblewoman. She smiles sweetly and speaks French with great fluency.  But her French is not from Paris; it is from the school of Stratford-atte-Bowe. The Prioress behaves more like a courtly lady than a nun. She eats very cleanly and never drops a bit of food. Chaucer says,

“She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle.”

(She let no morsel fall from her lips.)

She wears a golden brooch written with “Amor vincit omnia” (Love conquers all). This shows she likes beauty and romance, not holy life. Chaucer’s humour shows her desire to look perfect and polite. She loves courtly manners more than spiritual life

A Kind but Foolish Heart: The Prioress is kind and soft-hearted. She feeds her little dogs with roasted meat, milk, and white bread. Chaucer’s gentle humour makes her kindness look childish. She cries even when she sees a mouse caught in a trap. Chaucer says,

“She wolde wepe, if that she saugh a mouse

Kaught in a trappe.”

(She would weep, if she saw a mouse

Caught in a trap.)

Her heart is full of pity, but it is more for animals than for people. She wants to seem tender and gentle, like a fine lady, not a strict nun.

A Nun with Worldly Tastes: Though she is a nun, she loves beauty and luxury. She has