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General Prologue

            "General Prologue" to the Canterbury Tales.
             Geoffrey Chaucer lived during a sensational period in England's history. The late fourteenth century was a time when religion played a huge role in everyday life. Despite people's religious mania the church was ironically corrupt in many ways. The irony of the medieval period created an endless amount of inspiration for Chaucer and sparked his imagination; which has been portrayed in his literature. Although the portraits could have been based off of real people, the reality is that Chaucer was a middle class man. Therefore he used his life experiences and the beauty of his words to skillfully make his characters come to life. In the "General Prologue" of the Canterbury Tales, the Prioress, Monk, and Friar are specifically used to represent the clergy of Chaucer's time. Each character had defied the church; they differ only at the level of their defiance. Chaucer utilized these characters and their portraits to prove that rebellion existed on many levels, including commoners and shockingly members of the clergy. .
             The first of the three portraits portrays the Prioress. Chaucer described her as "simple and coy," (119) and "faire and fetisly" (124). At first glance she appears to be a great woman serving as the head of a convent. Her disobedient side is more difficult to see than the Monk and Friar. The biggest external sign is the "paire of bedes" she wore (159). A rosary was not seen as an awful thing for a prioress to have, but hanging the phrase "Love conquers all" from it changed everything. This "brooch of gold" illustrates the popularity of something unacceptable to the church during this time, courtly love (160). The idea of courtly love versus Christianity was a very common controversy. The mention of her knowledge of French implies that she often read schoolbooks. That would be unacceptable for a prioress since it was seen as something for the common people and not for members of the clergy.


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