Begin by reading a brief introduction to The Canterbury Tales.
Chauntecleere the rooster lives in a henhouse with his partner, Pertelote, on a farm owned by a poor old widow. He has a nightmare in which he is attacked by a fox. Upon waking, he is frightened and tells Pertelote who calls him coward for putting too much stock in “swevenes” or dreams. In response, Chauntecleere argues that dreams are more or less reliable indicators of real events. Chauntecleere’s worst fears are realized when he is seduced through flattery and abducted by the fox, but he manages to extricate himself from the situation by appealing to the fox’s vanity even as the fox had appealed to Chauntecleere’s vanity in order to capture him. The fable then closes typically with a brief moral: be always alert; don’t talk too much; and resist flattery (ll. 606-26).
The Nun’s Priest Tale combines at least two major genres:
Research these genres and briefly supplement the definitions offered above.
As is typical of the Canterbury Tales, the simple story of Reynard the Fox is part of a larger story—or perhaps several larger stories:
Pertelote responds to Chauntecleere’s fear about his nightmare with a combination of medical lore and a well known written authority (102-49). What is her point, and why is it funny?
Chauntecleere counters with exempla of his own, among which are two stories illustrating the connection between dreams and waking reality: one about a murdered man, the other about a man drowned. So, while Pertelote’s objections are rooted in medical knowledge, Chauntecleere relies on what he calls “experience” (158) – not his experience, mind you, but that of the characters in his stories (150-289). He then goes on to cite several learned authorities to support the experiential “evidence” of his stories. These exempla include secular, Judaeo-Christian, and Classical/Pagan sources (290-336).
However ridiculous, Chauntecleere and Pertelote are amusing and attractive characters, no? How would you describe their relationship? Which passages or details do you find most interesting or amusing, and why?
What is the relevance of the tale about the injured cock who gets his revenge by not crowing when he should?
In addition to being a beast fable filled with learned exempla, NPT is also a satire. Satire combines the lofty and the ridiculous in order to poke fun at one or the other (or both). The object of ridicule in such contrasts is not always easy to discern. For if trivial characters and events are further trivialized by being juxtaposed with more dignified characters and events, the obverse is that the elevated style itself is brought low or trivialized by being identified with comparatively vulgar circumstances and characters.
Chauntecleer, for example, is but a Rooster, and yet he is Prince of his barnyard realm (27-48). Satirical contrasts include:
If satire cuts both ways, which is ridiculed here? Is the lowly made even more ridiculous in being contrasted with the lofty? Or is the lofty brought down to earth by being contrasted with the lowly?
From the lines that follow, identify other satirical contrasts and comment on them.
©Robert Whalen, 2023