Justify “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” as a beast fable.

Answer

Justify “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” as a beast fable.

“Beast Fable” is a literary genre that shows the weakness of human behaviour through animal characters. Like others, including Aesop (620-564 BCE) from Greece, Vishnu Sharma from India, Phaedrus (15 BC–c. 50 AD) from Italy, Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) produced numerous beast fables. He adopted a new artistic style rather than the traditional custom of making the tales. “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is a remarkable English beast fable centering the entrapped and escaping story of Chanticleer from the clever fox.  

Animal Characters: The primal feature of a beast fable is the presence of animal characters. “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” abounds with animal characters. In the story, we find a widow of advanced age. All she has is some animals and birds. Here is a quotation from the text to know her possessions. 

A yard she had, enclosed all roundabout…

And in the yard a cock called Chanticleer.

… … … … … … …

This noble cock had in his governance

Seven hens to give him pride and all pleasance,

This excerpt shows her cock and hens. Besides, we notice the appearance of a fox as the story advances. Chanticleer, the cock, dreams that a fox is killing him and reveals it to her beloved, Pertelote, who scolds him for her disbelief in the meaning of dreams. Finally, a fox appears and entraps the cock but in vain. 

Dressing Animals in Clothing: The next point dealt with in a beast fable is anthropomorphism. This term means attributing human characteristics to animals. Chaucer successfully does this in his poem. His characters are animals but exhibit human-like qualities, emotions, and behaviours. These qualities allow readers to relate to them as if they were human. The following line is a part of the conversation between Chanticleer and Pertelote after his dream.

I cannot love a coward, by my faith.

Pertelote personifies Chanticleer