Kelly S Notes: Chaucer S Canterbury Tales 2014-2015 3Rd Period
Kelly’s Notes: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales 2014-2015 3rd period
THE SQUIRE
What was a squire?
A squire was typically a young nobleman who acted as an attendant to a knight. They did this up until they were deemed worthy of becoming a knight themselves. It was typical of them to fight in battles alongside their master once they were experienced enough, but before that they performed more menial tasks. They carried the knight’s belongings, carved his meat, entertained his guests, and helped arm him for battle.
Where did Chaucer’s squire fight?
He fought in Flanders, Artois, and Picardy. These are all places in France, which leads to the conclusion that the squire fought in the Crusade, just like his father. His reasons, however, were of a more fleshly nature. He sought to impress a woman with his prowess in battle.
The Squire’s Skills
The squire shows not only his prowess in battle in his efforts to impress the fairer sex; he could joust and dance, sing and write poetry.
The Squire’s Struggle
The night was a familiar sight to the squire, as his desire for love, for a woman, kept him up all throughout it. He fought for his lady, and she often times consumed his thoughts.
The Prioress-Madame Eglantyne (105-7)
The Prioress is a nun whose position is right below the head nun in the convent.
Description: The prioress is a very attractively-built young woman who alters her conventional nun attire to accentuate these characteristics. She wears her veil so that her very large (and sexy) forehead is strikingly prominent. Along with this forehead, she also possesses other attractive facial qualities: glass-grey eyes, an elegant nose; and delicate, red lips. This physical beauty is accented by the gaudy green prayer beads and a golden “crowned-A” broach on her arm.
Character: As the right-hand assistant to the head nun, Madame Eglantyne would be expected to manifest the religious ideals of a nun. Instead though, the prioress is the essence of ambiguity between religion and worldly desires. Even her most basic identity (her name) highlights this ambiguity; Madame suggests the role of a nun, while Eglantynesuggests that of a courtly woman. Deeper than her name, the prioress continues to live a paradoxical life through her worldly-oriented actions.
These actions include the way in which this nun decides to portray her physical appearance. Instead of abiding by the modest laws of the Lord, Madame Eglantyne arranges her veil so that her forehead will be exposed. This decision to display her forehead suggests a dissatisfaction with the religious convent, and; instead, a desire for the materialism offered by the world. The Prioress’ desire for the world continues on as she learns to speak the “elegant” French language. Unfortunately for her though, her French is from the “school of Stratford-atte- Bowe””—so basically she speaks street French, which is not as classy as she thinks... bummer. This street-French is used to demonstrate the Prioress’ yearning to portray herself as a courtly lady as thereby misplaced aspirations (her thoughts aren’t in the right place).
Against the rules of the convent, the Prioress loves, adores and owns many very adorable puppies. She pampers these puppies and feeds them high-class meals; consequently leaving the poor to starve. Madame Eglantyne is placing a greater priority on animals (like the classy can afford to do) than on God’s people (like religion would encourage her to do).
This misplaced love is physically represented by the crowned A brooch located on the nun’s arm. Engraved with the words amorvincitomnia, (love conquers all) the Prioress suggests that the love of the world may conquer all. This is very controversial to convent-life belief that God’s love conquers all.
A final distinguishing factor in the prioress’ ambiguous life is the way in which she sings. Instead of singing her hymns in a classic convent-manner (unconcerned with what it sounds like as long as she is worshiping the Lord), Madame Eglantyne “sang a service with a fine intoning.” She is more concerned with having an elegant, courtly woman’s singing voice than worship. She has put the world above God; this is the criticism Chaucer seems to be suggesting about the catholic church during this time.
Critical Note by Renee
PRIORESS
Physical Description: Chaucer takes great care to describe the Prioress’s appearance. She is dressed in the traditional black garb of the nuns, but she wears her dress in a way that shows off her shapely curves. She has very beautiful facial features, but the most attractive of these features, her broad, unwrinkled forehead, is left uncovered by her habit. She is very well kept and holds herself in a very dignified manner. She carries red and green rosary beads with a gold medallion at the end in the shape of a capital A with a crown on top.
Description: The Prioress is the second head nun in her convent under her mother abbess. This being the case, she should be the exact picture of what a nun of the time should be because she needs to set a good example for the other nuns and postulates below her. This is not the case. The Prioress still has many habits from her life before the convent, and looking at the most likely reason she joined the clergy, its hard to blame her for that. Back in Chaucer's time, there were only two things that could happen to a woman who came from a family of status or money. She would either be wed to a young man from another wealthy family, or, if she couldn't be married off or refused to be married, she would be forced to join the convent, religious calling or otherwise. This is why her nickname is Madame Eglentyne. She has the appearance of a woman with status who was trying to attract attention to herself and her appearance and not a woman of purely religious calling who should have been hiding anything that made her look appealing. Because of this,it can be inferred that she was one of those unmarried girls who were pushed into the convent because their families didn't have anywhere else to put them. She then made her way up to be second in command. Chaucer wanted to point out how this practice of dumping these girls into the convent as a way to get rid of them could turn it into a less than ideal house of worship. The Prioress, though forced into the convent, does her best to take up the role she had been forced into. She learned French so that she could sing the hymns and the prayers during the daily masses, though the French is not even close to the sounding like French, French and was the English version that she learned in the convent. She learned the proper way to sing those hymns through her nose so that she wouldn't hurt her throat. She even carried her prayer beads around wherever she went, even on the journey to Canterbury. These rosary beads were a little unusual, however. They were red coral rosary beads attached to the larger green prayer beads, which was a little extravagant for a nun who swore to poverty, and was attached to a gold medallion in the shape of an “A” with a crown on top, with the engraving, “Amor vincitomnia” which roughly translates from latin as “ Love conquers all”. The Prioress, being as true to her role as she could be, probably believed that the love referred to on her medallion was the love of God, though Chaucer used the play on words to mean the much more worldly idea of the phrase. This coupled with her very worldly appearance pushes a point that the nuns of the time were not as unworldly as they seemed. The Prioress took part in two very worldly practices that further pushed her in the direction of the worldly and showed that she wasn’t at the convent because of a religious calling. She would continually take visits to the wealthy homes near the convent, which the priests of the times constantly tried to forbid though they constantly failed, and she took care of three little dogs better than she had taken care of any impoverished person. The Prioress, along with other nuns from the convent, would take trips to the wealthy estates around the convent to attend parties and dinners. She would have the most proper manners and would never show anything less than perfect elegance in front of her hosts and the other guests. Again, a little bit much for a nun who swore to poverty. She also has the three little dogs that she takes care of. Chaucer points out that she is a very kindhearted woman when it comes to animals and can’t stand to see them suffer, even a mouse will bring her to tears. She applies this love and affection to her three little dogs. She feeds them white bread and fine meats because they refuse to eat anything else. The white bread would have probably been the second best quality bread that could be made at the time, and the meat would have been an extravagance that no normal person could have acquired. She spoiled her three little dogs to the point where they would only eat when they were given better quality food than anything an average English person would see in there lifetime.( Quality food for someone who swore to poverty.) This was highly looked down upon by the British society because someone with the means to spoil a dog or other animal should have put those means to helping feed, clothe, and shelter the poor, especially if they were a part of the clergy. She showed more sadness to the suffering of her animals than she did for her fellow man. This is not what was expected of a nun. The Prioress was the epitome of worldly. From her attractive appearance and worldly behaviors, she is almost everything a nun should not be. She tried to take her forced role in stride and be the best nun she could be, even getting to the top of the convent, but it was forced. It was a facade that she put up to deal with her family dumping her out of the way. She was still the rich girl that had worldly desires and worldly habits. Chaucer was demonstrating how unproductive it was for the clergy to except these girls on the sole reason that their families wanted them there or the church got paid to take them. Chaucer pointed out with the Prioress that with every girl that had no interest in becoming a nun that was dumped into the convent, the more corrupt the whole clergy became. The Prioress is one of the characters that showed the clergy of the time was everything but what it was supposed to be, it was corrupt.
The Monk (107-108)
Description: In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, one of the pilgrims is the monk. The monk is described as being clothed in the finest grey fur in the land, with a wrought - gold pin that fastened his hood. He is fat, bald, and greasy. The way his eyes are described is key to understanding our monk. Chaucer said, “his prominent eyeballs never seemed to settle.” (Page 108). His eyes being described in that way tells us that the monk is impatient, and is lustful of food and women.
Character:A monk must take three key vows in order to be a good monk. A monk must take a vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Going along with that, a monk must never leave the monastery without the permission of the Abbot, who is the monk in charge, or one of the prelates which is a high-ranking clergyman. It was also expected that monks live ascetic lives, meaning they must display severe self-discipline and deprive their bodies of all forms of indulgence for the health of their soul. Throughout the description of Chaucer’s monk, it becomes obvious that this monk does not abide by those vows. He is fat and loves to eat expensive swan roasts, which does not coincide with a vow of poverty or an ascetic life. The monk left his cloister, or monastery, because he was a “modern man” and claimed that in order to serve God he needed to serve the world, something he could not do being trapped in a monastery. The monk loved to hunt, and he had greyhounds to help him. He dressed as nobility using the furs that he hunted, which again goes against his vow of poverty. The expression “hunting the hare” applies to men who are very lustful after women and end up having a lot of sex. This monk “hunts the hare” often which goes against his vow of chastity. Through breaking the vows of chastity and poverty, by “hunting the hare” and dressing and eating as nobility, he also is then breaking his vow of obedience. Chaucer’s monk claims to be a monk, but in actuality he is just a guy who loves to indulge himself in worldly affairs rather than spiritual affairs.
The Monk (107-8)
Description: This luxurious monk is like no other. Wearing forbidden grey pelt sleeves, a golden pin on his hood, and lavish boots, this monk is equipped like an unashamed abbot. His bald head and bulging eyes were only matched by his plump figure.
Character: This “pious” and humble monk took vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity. This monk blatantly breaks every vow. He breaks the vow of poverty by wearing expensive clothing. He breaks the vow of obedience by hunting, which was forbidden for monks. He breaks the vow of chastity by wearing a love pin on his hood and “hunting the hare” (chasing after women). Chaucer accepts this “progressive monk”, seeing nothing wrong with him. I agree with the concept that Chaucer is attacking the church for fraud. The seamless, perfect boots that the monk wears represent the wealth of the church, towering over the peasants. The vows represent the rules and regulations that the church implements on the people. Breaking these rules, the church is a hypocritical hierarchy that somehow manages to keep a righteous place in society.
Critical Note by Bernard Steyaert
The Friar
Definitions:
1. Penance: (committed by a sinner) the act of going to a priest or religious official and confessing one's sins and receiving absolution
2. Shriven: forgiven of all sins through the act of penance
Description: Some friars dressed beyond the norms of their religious society due to the money they collected across the towns. In the Canterbury Tales, the friar is described as wearing a short robe with fine wool, a semi-cope. This dress is too extravagant for a brother of the church. Despite his rather outlandish appearance, he was a very happy man and perhaps the most cheerful of all friars throughout the districts.
Character: A friar from the middle ages was responsible for offering penance. He traveled around throughout many districts to hear these confessions but a friar also had a greater job: to save souls from damnation and teach the Christian faith. Many friars collected money from the people of the towns which would have originally gone to the priests of the local churches.
In order to be a successful friar in the middle ages, one must be very good at begging and the friar in the Canterbury Tales most certainly was. In lines 233-6 Chaucer alludes to the friar’s more manipulative side: “For many a fellow is so hard of heart He cannot weep, for all his inward smart. Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer One should give silver for a poor Friar’s care.”
Being of the religious order, a friar should have respect for all people and look at everyone as equals through God’s eyes. This was not always the case, however, as Chaucer demonstrates in lines 244-52. In this section he describes the friars acquaintances with the local barmaids and street scum from the inns and taverns. He uses these helpless folk until he has had enough and then looks upon them as if they are inferior to him. This is not the way a man of respected religious authority should act.
Critical note by Courtney Weaver
The Friar
Description: The friar’s physical appearance is described more so than any other character in Canterbury Tales. He wears a short robe called a “semi-cope”. Under his hood he keeps gifts for the various girls he cohorts with, such as “pins for curls”. It is said that he has a white neck, which in Chaucer’s time was a symbol of sexual immorality. The Friar is not dressed in the usual garb of his occupation: Friar Hubert is depicted wearing clothes equal to the opulence of a pope or priest.