Religion in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale"

          This semester we read several literary works that connect to Gender, Religion, and Disability.
In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, religion is a prominent theme, especially in "The Prioress' Tale."
          In "The Prioress' Tale," there are traces of anti-Semitism by the way that Jews are treated in the tale. The Prioress specifically is classified as having a negative attitude towards Jewish people. She is labeled as being anti-Semitic by the way that she talks about the Jews. Critics such as Denise Despres say that, "the Prioress' virulent brand of anti-Judaism." She is labeled as being anti-Semitic because of the way that she tells her tale.

The Prioress in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale."

          In the tale, the Jews living in the community are all persecuted after the murder of the young Christian boy. Because the Christians think that a Jew killed the boy, the Christians torment and kill all of the Jews in response to the killing of the child. Therefore, the Jewish community is blamed for the child's death. There is evidence of religious violence because of the slaughter of the Jews. One literary critic argues that they, "represent the ideological 'enemy,' or anyone of any religion 'whose wisdom is without faith'...Their slaughter by Christians is the triumph." The slaughter of the Jews indicates the tension between Christians and Jews. They see the killing of Jews as a positive thing instead of a negative thing. This shows the role of religion in the tale and how it causes a divide within religious groups of people.
          "The Prioress' Tale," serves as evidence of the existence of anti-Semitic ideas for a long time in history. The tale is compared to events in history such as the Holocaust during World War II. Critics such as Greg Wilsbacher claim that, "'The Prioress' Tale' is ruined by the similarity between...some of the anti-Semitic propaganda whiich was current in Nazi Germany, and which is still in operation, not only in numerous foreign countries but also here at home." He compares "The Prioress' Tale" to the propaganda that was used during World War II. The propaganda that was used contained anti-Semitic ideas just like in Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale." This shows that the idea of anti-Semitism has existed throughout history. During the time of the Holocaust, Jews were treated similarly to how they are treated in the tale. In both situations, Jews were persecuted and killed for their religion.

The Disabling Qualities of The Prioress in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

This semester my Middle English Literature class explored several texts looking specifically at gender, disability, and religion in the texts and identifying the links between them. While I had read some of the texts in the past, this new perspective allowed for a fresh read and new insight into these works. One of the texts, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, explores the intentions of several religious figures through the implications of the tales they tell on their pilgrimage.

My term paper for this class looked closely at the Prioress' introduction in the General Prologue and the implications of her tale. Through my discussion I examined the possibility that the Prioress is not a good Christian woman and that she disables those around her with her inability to look past her own self. This is implied as early as the General Prologue with the physical descriptions of the Prioress. Thomas Farrell discusses this in his article “The Prioress’s Fair Forehead” in which he seeks to understand Chaucer’s attention to the Prioress’ physical description, specifically her forehead: “But sikerly she hadde a fair foreheed-/It was almost a spanne brood, I trowe” (Chaucer ll.154-155). Farrell tries to determine what a “spanne” is in Chaucer’s time and explain how this is a way of implying the Prioress’ size (Farrell 212). This would show that she indulges in large amounts of food and beverage which is not typical of someone involved in the clergy who should be giving more to others and taking less for themselves. This is evidence of her selfishness which takes away from others and therefore has a disabling quality.

Another oddity in the tale is the way the Prioress uses apostrophe in order to cover up her inappropriate comments regarding the Jews. Jessica Fenn identifies this tactic in her article “Apostrophe, Devotion, and Anti-Semitism: Rhetorical Community in the Prioress’s Prologue and Tale” where she cites examples of the Prioress’ language. One example of this is her call to God followed by the reference to the Hugh of Lincoln (Chaucer ll. 683-684). She calls to God to gain authority over what she is going to say and then references a well-known story to bring credibility to her own tale (Fenn 435). However, introducing the Hugh of Lincoln adds to the idea that she is trying to present the Jews in a negative light and her anti-Semitic beliefs. Geraldine Heng provides helpful information about the Hugh of Lincoln in her article “England's Dead Boys: Telling Tales of Christian-Jewish Relations Before and After the First European Expulsion of the Jews.” Heng’s article brings to light the fact that the Prioress’ tale includes a much more extreme punishment of the Jews than in the original story that her tale parallels. This is evidence of her blinding hatred which disables the Jews in her eyes. The Prioress’ selfishness coupled with her inability to see beyond her own point of view disables not only those around her, but also herself as she is unable to fulfill her Christian duties.

Image of the Prioress 

The Summoner: The Man Sick with Sin

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer follows the journey of a large group of pilgrims. They begin at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, England, and continue on until they reach the cathedral within the city of Canterbury. It opens with a prologue, in which the narrator gives a description of everyone who is participating in the pilgrimage. Following that, each character gets a chance to tell their own tale.

Within the “General Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes the character known as The Summoner to be infected with a terrible disease. He is described to be covered in cysts, lumps, infections, and pimples. His face is horribly inflamed, red, and so swollen that he can barely keep his eyes open. His appearance is so terrible that it frightens children. Many scholars have speculated on what exactly ails the man. Some say it is dry scabies, late-stage syphilis, or gutta rosacea. No matter his exact diagnoses, during Medieval England, he most likely would have been said to have leprosy, as this term was unknowingly used to diagnose an incredible amount of diseases due to the limited understanding of illnesses.

Visual representation of The Summoner

During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed that when a person did something morally or spiritually wrong, it was reflected on their body in the form of illness or disease. In most instances, the disease was leprosy. In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner falls victim to this very belief. He led a very sinful life filled with sodomy, lechery (excessive sexual desire, also known as lustfulness), and simony. Bryon Grigsby best describes the man’s simony by saying, “Instead of searching out immoral people and sending them to either the [church] or [non-religious] authorities, he searches out morally good people and [forces] money out of them or accepts bribes from morally bad people to avoid turning them over to the authorities.” As a summoner, his duty was to bring people who were guilty of spiritual crimes to the ecclesiastical court to be punished. However, he abused his position in order to make money for himself. This, along with the other sins mentioned, was more than enough for The Summoner to be punished by God by becoming infected with a terrible disease.

Sharon Rhodes offers her opinion regarding The Summoner’s disease and sins. She considers leprosy to be an obvious mark on a person that advertises their sins to the world. She explains, “Consequently, . . . Chaucer’s Summoner . . . appear[s] as [a] leper[ ]. The[ ] character[‘s] skin[ ] publicly broadcast[s] their private wickedness, allowing—even forcing—the audience to visualize the effects of sin which would otherwise be unreadable.” Generally, once a person sinned enough for it to be reflected on their skin in the form of a disease, they would make some positive changes in their life in an effort to rid themselves of the illness. However, The Summoner chooses not to make changes to his lifestyle and continues to sin as much as he had before becoming a leper. Rhodes speculates that his pilgrimage to Canterbury is a last-ditch effort to save himself. It was said that in Canterbury, those with leprosy could receive a type of holy water made with a small amount of St. Thomas’ blood, which was believed to cure the disease from those who truly seek forgiveness from God.