MB UNIUD

Alessandro Manzoni describes very carefully the character: the Monaca di Monza.

From the description you can understand her social status. She is a nun but probably she occupates a high position in the convent.

Manzoni gives us information about her physical appearance and the way she moves:"mosse repentine, irregolari".

After that he tells about her clothes: she is elegant and she takes care of her appearance. But Manzoni adds a relevant sentence:"dalla benda usciva sur una tempia una ciocchettina di neri capelli". It means that she doesn't respect the rules of the order she belongs to.

All the character is sorrounded by mistery: Manzoni creates a lot of suspense.

He wants to criticize the Monaca di Monza. As the matter of fact he underlines her strange behaviour. She doesn't seem a common nun because she doesn't behave like this one.

The Prioress is also decribed with care.

From the text you can know lots of things about her.

The first piece of information is the Prioress's social status. She belongs to the clergy but she is an important person: she occupates a high position in the Church.

Then you can know something about her behaviour: the Prioress smiles and she is calm ("whose smile was unaffected and demure").

She speaks French when she was nervous ("her greatest oath was just "By St Eloi!").

The Prioress is known as Madame Eglantine. She used French because it was fashionable at that time. She pretends she is refine.

Geoffrey Chaucer pokes fun at the Prioress:"she sang the divine service prettily and through the nose, becomingly intoned". From this sentence you can understand that the woman wants to be always the protagonist: she is grotesque.

There is another relevant sentence:"as she'd been taught it at Stratford-at-Bow". In the sentence there is a passive form. It means the poet wants to underline that she undergoes and she can't decide something alone.

Geoffrey Chaucer also underlines that the Prioress can't speak French of Paris. It means that she pretends to be refine but she wasn't like this.

After that the poet tells about her good table manners. He says that she had learnt them. From this sentence you can understand that good manners didn't belong to her.

In the following verse the rider notices her unnatural attention for the good table manners.

The poet gives us information about her character: she is charitable and sensitive.

After that Chaucer tells about her physical appearance.

Geoffrey Chaucer wants to criticize the Prioress because he wants to criticize the high positions of the clergy (the representation of the corruption of the Church).

He makes us understand that the Prioress doesn't behave like another nun: she prefers smiling and speaking French, she gives more importance in appearance to religion.

The two nuns that we have analysed live in different periods but they are very similar.

As the two poets underline the Monaca di Monza and the Prioress doesn't behave like common nuns. It seems that they are in a wrong place (the convent). You can understand this reading what they do: the Prioress pretend to be refine and the Monaca di Monza is always angry. It means that both of them are unhappy.

At that time rich families sent their daughters to convents but probably they didn't want that kind of life.

At the end people did not believe in her religious faith.