MB UNIUD

Now I'm going to analyze "The Prioress", written by Geoffrey Chaucer, underlining the categories used by the poet to create this character.

SOCIAL STATUS

"There  was also a nun, a prioress(...)And she was known as Madame Eglantine "

  The main character is a nun, but she is not a simple nun, she is a prioress so she has an high position in the hierarchy of the church. The poet tells to the rider that she was known as Madame Eglantine. So this isn't her true name because he used the expression "she was know". In addition the word "Madame" is a French word ,probably used to make fun her and her behavior.

BEHAVIOUR

"Whose smile was unaffected and demure; her greatest oath was just, ‘By St Eloi!' "

This is one of her behavior that makes the reader understands that this is an unusual way to describe a nun. The poet starts to describe her leaving to her smile; maybe to underline, from the beginning, that she is a superficial person. This hypothesis can be confirmed  by her greatest oath: "By St Eloi!". Using this expression she wants to show to the people that she has got good manners.

LENGUAGE

"And she spoke French very well and elegantly as she'd been taught it at Stratford-at-Bow, for French of Paris was to her unknown. "

At that time in England were spoken three languages: Latin among the clergy, English among ordinary people and French among the nobility. So speaking French she pretends to become refined as the members of court. It is a ridiculous behavior for a nun.

ACTIONS

"She sang the divine service prettily and through the nose, becomingly intoned"

She forces herself to be refined in every way. This is her principal though/ worry. The way she acts is affected.

THE WAY SHE EAT

"Good table manners she had learnt as well: she never let a crumb from her mouth fall; she never soiled her fingers, dipping deep into the sauce; when lifting to her lips some morsel, she was careful not to spill so much as one small drop upon her breast. "

She is very careful when she was at table for meals and she follows etiquette but this is not a habit of nuns and the poet underlines this very well using an ironic thon.

PHISICAL APPEARANCE

" Her nose well-shaped; eyes blue-grey, of great beauty; and her mouth tender, very small and red. And there's no doubt she had a fine forehand, almost a span in breadth, I'd swear it was, for certainly she was not undersized."

She is a woman of great beauty and the poet describes with an unusual peculiarity her physical appearance; she is only a nun. The reader can notice an unusual detail: "she had a fine forehead, almost a span in breadth", so her forehead is  uncover but it is not a habit of nuns. The reader can understand that she don't respect the rules ordered by the church and that she wanted to show her beauty.

DRESSING

"Her veil was pleated most becomingly; (...) Her cloak, I noticed, was most elegant. A coral rosary with gauds of green she carried on her arm; and from hung a brooch of shinning gold; inscribed thereon was, first of all, a crowned ‘A', and under, ‘Amor vincit omnia.' "

 As a nun, she is supposed to observe poverty and obedience, but in fact she is fond of elegance, both in dress and behavior; she wants to be admired, and she wears jewels. One of them, a golden brooch, bears the inscription "Amor vincit omnia"(love conquers all), and it is up to the reader to decide: is it love of god or love of man?

ATTITUDE TO PEOPLE

In the text the poet don't tell about the Prioress' attitude to people. This is an important detail that makes the reader understands that she does not show much concern for the people.

BEHAVIOUR WITH ANIMALS

"She was full of charity and pity that if she saw a mouse caught in trap, and it was dead or bleeding, she would weep. She kept some little dogs, and these she fed on roast meat, or on milk and fine with bread. But how she'd weep if one of them were dead, or if somebody took a tick to it! "

She has a good behavior with animals but as a nun she would have this behavior also with people not only with animals.

PERSONALITY

Form the text the reader understands that The Prioress is a woman who doesn't renounce to her beauty in fact she show it. She is weak because she pretends to be another woman. But in this way she leads on people but also herself. She is an unhappy person because she doesn't like her life conducting.