The Nun's Priest's Tale: A Pattern of Balance Between Moral and Merriment
Student: Good Day, Sir Chaucer, and thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Today I would like to address your "Nun's Priest's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales. My first question relates to the most obvious patterns in the Tale, namely humor. Now in the introduction, it becomes clear that the Monk's tale, preceding this one, has been quite gloomy. Indeed, he is accused of annoying "the entire company", and practically begged not to imposed upon them any "more of this". It seems then that the company is looking for entertainment rather than education. Finding the Monk unable to rise from his gloom, they then settle on the Nun's Priest to tell the tale, and the host's words to him also seems to focus on the company's need for less gloomy entertainment: "Come near, you priest,/ come hither, you Sir John, /Tell us a thing to make our hearts all glad". My first question to you is one focusing on this issue of humor. How important is this element in the Tale of the Nun's Priest?Chaucer: Oh, it is very important indeed. You must remember that the company consists of a wide variety of people and personalities. Some are greatly virtuous, while others are only concerned with physical pleasure, and others still are inheren
This is an obvious parody of the human tendency to be blinded by such transparent manipulative devices as flattery. " The host here emphasizes that apparent poverty should not be as important as appreciating the things that are indeed in the possession of the individual. " I must admit that these lines surprise me, as they hardly seem a suitable beginning for a humorous tale to lighten the mood of a company just hearing the Monk's tale of pain and loss. /His voice was merrier than the organ gay /On Mass days, which in church begins to play". In this way they fail to arrive at the whole truth of the situation. One could therefore deduce that the Nun's Priest places the nobility and courtly values at the same level as deprived individuals such as himself. So rather than criticizing either gender as such, I believe the Nun's Priest's view here is wider: he is criticizing the human tendency to be blinded by emotion; whether this be positive or negative. The Nun's Priest avoids the danger of even further "annoying" his audience in this way by beginning his tale with an absolutely realistic sketch of the old widow with very little to sustain herself, her children and her animals. The travelling company experiences hardship and deprivation on the road. These lines focus on her appearance and her physical surroundings, while the Nun's Priest also mentions her deprivation in terms of fine dining a little later in the tale's beginning: "Right sooty was her bedroom and her hall, /Wherein she'd eaten many a slender meal. Student: I understand; in the same way that a fantasy novel is made realistic by its connection with known reality, so the Nun's Priest connects with the reality of his audience by apparently gloomy descriptions. The chickens obviously share the simplicity of these surroundings. The tendency of philosophers to over-analyze what they do not understand enjoys attention by means of Chanticleer's dream. He describes mere chickens, for example, in noble terms, referring to "Lady" Pertelote and her influence over her "Lord", for example. The Monk's and other more serious tales is therefore balanced by the promise of laughter in the tale of the Nun's Priest.
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