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The Nun's Priest in the Canterbury Tales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2021

R. M. Lumiansky
R. M. Lumiansky*
Affiliation:
Tulane University New Orleans 18, La.
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Extract

Among the best liked and most widely known sections of The Canterbury Tales is the Nun's Priest's story of the regal Chanticleer and the lovely Dame Pertelote. For a long time critics have realized that this tale skilfully reflects facets of its teller's character, but only recently have detailed attempts been made to suggest just what sort of person Chaucer intended his audience to visualize as the Nun's Priest. Since Chaucer did not include in the General Prologue a portrait of this Pilgrim, whatever view one takes of the Nun's Priest must be based on the comments to and about him by the Host (VII.2810-15, 3447-60), on his own short comment to the Host (VII.2816-17), on the Narrator's brief remark about him (VI.2818-20), and on the superb tale which he relates to the company. This is to say that any acceptable portrait of Chaucer's Nun's Priest must of necessity derive primarily from the personal interplay during the Canterbury pilgrimage.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 68 , Issue 4-Part1 , September 1953 , pp. 896 - 906
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1953

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References

1 See, e.g., F. N. Robinson, ed. The Complete, Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (Boston, 1933), p. 14. In this paper quotations of Chaucer's text are from this edition.

2 See Arthur Sherbo, “Chaucer's Nun's Priest Again,” PM LA, LXIV (1949), 230-246; and Marie Padgett Hamilton, “The Convent of Chaucer's Prioress and Her Priests,” Philogica; The Malone, Anniversory Studies, (Baltimore, 1949), pp. 179-190.

3 Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales (New York, 1950)

4 The Order of the Canterbury Tales,“ PM LA, LXVI (1951), 1141-67.

5 See my paper in PQ, XXVI (1947), 313-320.

6 “Chaucer'. Originality in the ‘Nun’. Priest'. Tale',” SP, XLIII (1946), 22-41

7 S. B. Hemingway, “Chaucer's Monk and Nun's Priest,” MLN, XXXI (1916), 479-483

8 The Text of the Canterbury Tales (Chicago, 1940), II, 422-423; IV, 517.

9 “The Canterbury Tales in 1400,” PM LA, L (1935), 100-139; see esp. pp. 113-115.