The Nun’s Priest’s Tale

By Aaron, Cara, Esmerelda, Rosie, and Matt

Plot

• Brief description of widow and her lifestyle.

• Story of Chanticleer- rooster with seven wives, whose favorite is Pertelote.

• Chanticleer has a dream of his death.

• Pertelote sees it as a sign of weakness.

• One day, A fox sees Chanticleer singing; he flatters him to come over and snatches him away from the farm.

Plot

• Pertelote burns herself because she can’t cope with him being gone.

• Chanticleer tricks the fox back by telling him to tell the people chasing him that it is not worth it.

• While his mouth is open, Chanticleer escapes.

• The fox tries once more to coax Chanticleer into his mouth, but his flattery fails.

Social Commentary

• Revolves around the statement that you should not trust the people who try to flatter you.

• Imitates overblown descriptive style of romance stories through Chanticleer dreaming about his death and courting his love.

• Church hierarchy- hens at the farm are always being disposed of - in the church, lower status nuns were always moving in and out.

• Chanticleer’s dream of death is seen as sign of weakness by Pertelote- men at the time were not supposed to show feelings.

Interpretation/ Criticism

• Chanticleer represents the priest, Pertelote and the hens represent the nuns.

• That comparison sets up metaphors for clergy corruptness, such as nuns & priests breaking chastity vows

• The emphasis on the poor widow at the start is ironic, considering the clergy rarely lived the lives of poverty they preached.

Interpretation/ Criticism

• There are numerous references to Greek gods to tell the story, seeming to question the priest's knowledge of the Bible, which could be used to tell the tale.

• The Priest compares the hens to the wives of Roman Senators during Nero's burning of Rome. After the burning of Rome, Christians were persecuted by the Roman government, which is a very odd comparison for a clergyman to make.

Boethius

Burning of Rome

Teller VS. Tale

• Story characters Vs. Real characters• Chanticleer= Priest

Pertelote= Prioress Hens= Nuns/ whorehouse people Fox= rebeller against the church Old widow= Pope

VS.

Teller VS. Tale• Priest and Prioress did not follow

clergy rules they set for themselves and others.

• In prayer that priest recites at end of the story, he uses the term "my lord" which refers to God.

• However, In Chaucer’s style, he uses “my lord” to refer to a relationship between two people that is a close and personal relationship.

• This suggests that the prioress and the priest's relationship was more than just being clergy people.

• Relates to the story b/c it said they were “married”, just like the priest and the prioress.

Teller VS. Tale

• The story was thought to be based on fables by Marie de France.

• Shows that Chaucer used other literary works to write his own stories, and the inspiration for this story came from an original source.

Morals!

• The morals of the story are:

1). Don’t let flattery mislead you.

2). Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.