In the Prologue to the Caterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer is almost always polite and respectful when he points out the foibles and weaknesses of people. He is able to do this by using genial satire, which is basically having a pleasant or friendly disposition while ridiculing human vices and follies. Chaucer also finds characteristics in the pilgrims that he admires. This is evident in the peaceful way he describes their attributes.
             The Nun is one of the pilgrims in which Chaucer uses genial satire to describe. He defines her as a woman who is, “Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining/ To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace” ( l.l. 136-137). Instead of bluntly saying she is of the lower class and trying unsuccessfully to impersonate a member of the upper class Chaucer suggests it gentle, therefore the reader must be attentive to pick up on it. He also pokes fun at the Nun’s impersonated French accent when he says that she spoke:
             Intoning through her nose, as was most seemly,
             And she spoke daintily in French, extremely,
             After the school of Stratford-atte-Bowe;
             French in the Paris style she did not know. (l.l. 120-124)
             Chaucer finds the Nun’s speech amusing but he carefully chooses his words so as not to be disrespectful. Chaucer also uses genial satire when illustrating the Nun’s size; “She was indeed by no means undergrown” (l. 154). He puts the fact that she is fat in a polite way because he finds the Nun “very entertaining” (l. 135) and thus doesn’t speak ill of her even though there is much ill to be said. Instead he uses genial satire to describe the Nun so that he may remain courteous and respectful.
             Chaucer finds the Monk less amusing and more repulsive than the Nun but none the less he describes him in a polite manner so that the reader must pay attention in order to fully realize the Monks faults. The main problem that Chaucer has with the Mo...