The Prioress's Tale

Well, it's a challenge to find good things to say, at least for me.

There is no way around the anti-Semitism. Since Jews were ex-pulsed in 1290 (note to line 488), most of Chaucer's audience would never have met a Jew. Only those who went to a different country would have even the slightest chance of meeting a Jew. I love Chaucer as an author, but I don't believe that there's any reason he would be less anti-Semitic than any other Englishman. For one thing, he makes his version of this story even more offensive."Broadly speaking, the other tales...differ from the story told by Chaucer in the following aspects: (1) the murdered boy is buried by the Jews (rather than being thrown in a latrine), but having been discovered by his singing he is dug up alive and unharmed..." (p.983 or the second paragraph introducing the notes to The Prioress's Tale). Many years ago I took a class on anti-Semitism. I know there is a long tradition of stories about Jews doing things like mixing the blood of Christian babies into their Passover bread and doing other horrible things. I have no idea why these stories existed.

OK, so why write about a group that no one knows. To be cynical--Chaucer was among other things a survivor. Many of his stories would offend various groups. So here's a story that would unite all his listeners--"we may all dislike each other but we are all English Catholics and united in our hate of Jews" (who we've never met and know nothing about). I think they fulfill the same role that aliens, machines, and to some extent Muslims fill now--groups that are OK to always set as villains, groups that are relatively unknown and easy to project on to.

If you are projecting onto a group, then there are things within your culture that you would rather project onto someone else than face. We've talked about the medieval discomfort with the idea of money exchange. Yet that part of society was growing. Maybe Jews were a way to keep from admitting things about England's own medieval society (note to line 491). The things projected onto the Jews remind me of the things projected on to suspected witches.

Why does The Prioress choose to tell this tale? Let's look at her in the GP. She aspires to high culture. She has compassion for furry animals and gives them expensive treats--however, she doesn't demonstrate that same compassion for poor people. I hate to admit it but I see her as my personal stereotype of the woman who buys everything for her cat but is annoyed by the homeless man on the sidewalk where she walks. She also seems to live somewhat in a fantasy world about nobles and chivalry. I think I remember from 20 years ago that many medieval nuns prayed for stigmata or suffering in order to connect more with Christ. The Prioress can't stand suffering and I don't see her wanting to experience suffering in order to get closer to Christ. The Prioress tells a story of a little boy in Asia, about as far away from her as she can get. The purity of a child is a romantic image--especially for a woman sworn to not have any. I also think that The Prioress may feel somewhat intimidated by the good women stories that we've had so far. These are women who've completely obeyed, who've married who they are told to, or who have died to remain virgins. And the stories about questionable women are about women very comfortable with their sexuality. The Prioress is fantasizing about courtly love. That makes her less pure than the good women in the stories. And she isn't comfortable with her sexuality, which probably causes her some discomfort around women like the WOB, or men's stories of sexual women. I think this story is The Prioress' attempt to redirect the focus, away from stories of women that make her feel guilty or uncomfortable. She moves away from sexual or extremely pure woman to a story with no sex, , a boy, and a group that everyone hates.