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what is the main theme of the nuns priest tale

by Mylene Flatley Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The fox tries to flatter the bird into coming down, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson. He tells the fox that flattery will work for him no more. The moral of the story, concludes the Nun's Priest, is never to trust a flatterer.

Full Answer

What is the moral lesson of the Nun's Priest's tale?

While we might be attracted to such an easy way out, we should remember that the Nun's Priest does indeed provide at least three morals at the end of the tale: be vigilant (NPT 3430-33); don't talk too much (3434-35); and don't trust flatterers (3436-37).

Why is the Nun's Priest tale important?

The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of Chaucer's most brilliant tales, and it functions on several levels. The tale is an outstanding example of the literary style known as a bestiary (or a beast fable) in which animals behave like human beings.

What is the satire of Nun's Priest tale?

The Nun's Priest's tale satirizes courtly love by putting chivalry in the setting of a barnyard. Supposedly pious religious figures are shown to be corrupt and greedy just underneath the surface.

What type of poem Nun's Priest tale is?

The Prioress's TaleGeoffrey ChaucerThe Miller's TaleGeoffrey ChaucerGeneral PrologueGeoffrey ChaucerThe Knight's TaleGeoffrey ChaucerThe Wife of Bath's TaleGeoffrey ChaucerThe Reeve's TaleGeoffrey ChaucerThe Nun's Priest's Tale/People also search for

What is the dream about in the nun's Priest tale?

Dream Analysis 'The Nun's Priest's Tale' actually develops when Chanticleer tells Pertelote about a dream he has. In the dream he sees a dog-like creature stalking him in the yard and in the end, Chanticleer sees his lifeless body in the mouth of the creature.

Who are the main characters in The nun's Priest tale?

The protagonist of this mock-heroic story is Chanticleer, a rooster with seven wives, foremost among them the hen Pertelote. Pertelote dismisses Chanticleer's dream of being attacked and tells him to go about his business. A fox soon approaches and flatters him, recalling the exquisite song of Chanticleer's father.

Is the nun priest tale is an allegory?

''The Nun's Priest's Tale'' is an animal story that serves as an allegory for human behavior, much like Aesop's fables. This tale focuses on a farm owned by a poor widow. On the farm lives an arrogant rooster, who is overly proud of his physical appearance and his crowing.

How is the Nun's Priest tale a beast fable?

The Nun's Priest's Tale is exactly that - it's a beast fable. Chauntecleer is a rooster, and Pertelote is his wife. He dreams about being eaten by a fox and then they have some raunchy chicken sex.

Who is the teller of the Nun's Priest's tale?

ReynardAlthough the figure of Reynard is prevalent in trickster lore, the primary trickster at play in the Nun's Priest's Tale may be not the fox but the teller of the tale, the Nun's Priest himself who travels the road to Canterbury.

What is Pertelote interpretation of Chanticleer dream in The nun's Priest's tale?

Pertelote is of the view that we witness horrible dreams owing to overeating and repletion and often due to constitutional disorders and imbalance of humour. She suggests chanticleer some digestive and laxatives.

What did Chanticleer dream of?

What was Chanticleer's dream? Chanticleer had a dream that hound-like beast came into the yard and threatened to kill him. To what did Pertelote attribute dreams? Pertelote tells him not to stress about his dreams.

When was the nun's Priest tale written?

The Canterbury Tales is a story written by Geoffrey Chaucer. It was written between 1387 and 1400 B.C.E. and is widely considered one of the most important works in the English language.

What is Chaucer's moral in The Nun's Priest Tale?

One important moral that Chaucer exemplifies through the character Chanticleer is, “not be so careless as to trust in flattery” (Lumiansky).

What is Chaucer's theme in the book?

In addition to the morals that Chaucer implements into his novel, he also brings in an overarching theme of the story, society's view on women. He was one of the few writers of his time to bring in feminist views into his literature, therefore there has been a controversy about his intentions for doing so years later.

What does Chaucer show about trust?

Through his tale, Chaucer demonstrates that trust is a virtue one should not give away too soon. Furthermore, he depicts that flattery should never win one's trust either.

What does Chanticleer encounter?

In his tale, Chanticleer encounters a fox, and while at first very frightened, the fox assures him he has no intention of harm. Chanticleer, a very naive rooster, proceeds to trust the fox and listen to his compliments.

Is Chaucer a feminist?

Using this idea, Chaucer could be viewed as feminist. There are two conflicting positions as to why Chaucer implements this theme into "The Nun's Priest Tale," and there may not be a clear answer.

What is the nun's priest's tale?

'The Nun's Priest's Tale' follows 'The Monk's Tale' in The Canterbury Tales, when the host and knight ask for a more entertaining story. The nun's priest obliges, and tells the tale of a rooster's misadventures with a fox. The story takes place at a farm, owned and managed by a poor widow who lives quite modestly. The central figure in the fable is a rooster called Chanticleer, who is described as being the most beautiful rooster in the land, and having the loveliest crow. He has seven wives (the seven hens who live on the farm with him), the favorite of whom is Lady Pertelote.

How does Chanticleer escape the fox?

When Chanticleer begins to sing, however, the fox seizes him by the neck and runs away with him. All the animals on the farm pursue the fox, attempting to rescue Chanticleer. Chanticleer ultimately escapes by encouraging the fox to taunt his pursuers; to do this, the fox must open his mouth, at which point Chanticleer manages to escape the fox's jaws and run away. The narrator ends the tale here, explaining that the moral is to not fall prey to flattery.

What is the Nun's Priest's Tale?

The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of Chaucer's most brilliant tales, and it functions on several levels. The tale is an outstanding example of the literary style known as a bestiary (or a beast fable) in which animals behave like human beings.

What is the contrast between the poor and rich in The Nun's Priest?

The Nun's Priest contrasts the two human worlds of the poor and the rich in the description of the poor widow and the elegant Chaunticleer. The widow's "bour and halle" (bedroom) was "ful sooty," that is black from the hearth-flame where she had eaten many a slim or slender meal. Notice the contrast: The term "bour and halle" comes from courtly verse of the time and conjures up the image of a castle. The idea of a "sooty bower" or hall is absurd: The rich would never allow such a thing. Yet soot is inevitable in a peasant's hut, and from the peasant's point of view, the cleanliness fetish of the rich may also be absurd. A slender meal ("sklendre meel") would of course be unthinkable among the rich, but it is all the poor widow has. Likewise, the widow has no great need of any "poynaunt sauce" because she has no gamey food (deer, swan, ducks, and do on) nor meats preserved past their season, and no aristocratic recipes. She has "No dayntee morsel" to pass through her "throte," but then, when Chaucer substitutes the word "throat" ("throte) for the expected "lips," the dainty morsel that the image calls up is no longer very dainty. The aristocratic disease gout does not keep the widow from dancing, but it's unlikely that she dances anyway. Dancing is for the young or rich. As a pious lower-class Christian, she scorns dancing of all kinds. In short, the whole description of the widow looks ironically at both the rich and the poor.

What does Chaunticleer dream about?

One spring morning, Chaunticleer awakens from a terrible dream of a beast roaming in the yard trying to seize him . This beast's color and markings were much the same as a fox. Lady Pertelote cries out, "For shame . . . . Fie on you / heartless coward" ("Avoi (coward) . . . fy on you, herteless") and tells him that being afraid of dreams is cowardly and that, by showing such fear, he has lost her love. She tells him he dreamed because he ate too much and that it is well known that dreams have no meaning; he simply needs a laxative. Chaunticleer graciously thanks Lady Pertelote, but he quotes authorities who maintain that dreams have a very definite meaning and insists that he does not need a laxative.

What does Chaunticleer say when the Nun's Priest turns to Chaunticleer?

When the Nun's Priest turns to Chaunticleer, he begins to comment on the life of the rich in other ironic ways. Chaunticleer has great talents and grave responsibilities, but the cock's talent (crowing) is a slightly absurd one, however proud he may be of it.

Who succeeded his father but was slain by an aunt?

Kenelm a young prince who, at seven years old, succeeded his father but was slain by an aunt.

What is the Nun's Priest's Tale about?

Had the pilgrims completed their round trip, “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” no doubt would have contended strongly for the prize, for it is one of the tales combining a pleasing proportion of both entertaining and instructive elements and has justly become a favorite among Chaucer’s readers. From its initial description of the plain-living, hardworking woman farmer whose values contrast so sharply with the aristocratic, self-indulgent prioress whom the priest serves as spiritual adviser, the humor is good-naturedly, sometimes slyly, satirical. Among its other targets are the rhetorical excesses of writers of Chaucer’s time, exemplified by...

What is Chaucer's mock-epic characterization of Chanticleer?

Above all, Chaucer’s mock-epic characterization of Chanticleer exemplifies a familiar biblical text, which is probably more honored in the breach than the observance: Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” It was by pride that Chanticleer fell into captivity, and it was by the fox’s fall into pride that the rooster was able to escape. It was this type of fall, emblematic of the Fall of Adam and Eve in Eden, rather than the often unmotivated falls of de casibus tragedy, against which the priest is warning the pilgrims and, by extension, Chaucer is cautioning his readers.

What are Chaucer's Canterbury Tales?

The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer’s long narrative poem Troilus and Criseyde (1382) are his two most important works by far, and the individual tales of the former, although often read separately, are best understood as part of an intricately planned, though incomplete, whole—indeed one of the most ambitious poetic works in Western literature. In the central fiction of the pilgrimage, the tales are meant to provide both instruction and pleasure to the pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. The host has promised the teller of the best tale a free supper after their return. Some of the tales, such as the relentlessly doctrinal “Parson’s Tale,” are mainly instructive but of limited entertainment value, while others, like the bawdy “Miller’s Tale” of the violation of a carpenter’s marriage by a parish clerk and an all-too-willing wife, provide much robust entertainment but not a great deal of improving message.

What genre is Nun's Priests?

The Nun’s Priests uses many of the conventions of both courtly romance and Homeric epic to describe his barnyard scene, lifting his story from a simple fable to the genre of mock epic and social satire. By taking noble concepts and ideas and putting them in mouths of chickens and foxes, the tale suggests that perhaps these high ideas, ...

What does the Nun's Priest say about the fox?

The Nun’s Priest laments the inevitable fate of the rooster to the murderous fox, but says it is his duty to tell the tale. Just like Adam, the cock has obeyed his wife’s counsel at his own peril. The Nun’s Priests uses many of the conventions of both courtly romance and Homeric epic to describe his barnyard scene, ...

What does Chaunticleer tell Pertelote about the beast?

One morning, Chaunticleer awakens from a terrible nightmare. He tells Pertelote that a savage, reddish, beast was about to swallow him. Pertelote chides him, saying that she cannot love such a coward. The Roman philosopher Cato, she says, tells men not to be scared of dreams. She says that the dream comes from some physical melancholy and urges him to take a laxative to get rid of this black bile.

What does Chaunticleer suggest to the fox?

Chaunticleer suggests to the fox that he stop and taunt his pursuers. The fox likes this idea. But as soon as the fox opens his mouth to do so, Chaunticleer flies away and perches in a high tree. The fox tries to flatter the rooster again, but Chaunticleer has learned his lesson. The moral of the story, says the Nun’s Priest, is never to trust flatterers.

What does the fox say about Chaunticleer?

The fox says that Chaunticleer’s father was the best singer he ever heard, and he coaxes Chaunticleer to sing for him.

What does Chaunticleer mean by "in the beginning, woman is man's ruin"?

Chaunticleer completely mis -translates the Latin that he quotes, which really means “In the beginning, woman is man’s ruin.”. His misinterpretation of the Latin foreshadows his misinterpretation of his dream and the negative ramifications of listening to his wife. (The Wife of Bath, probably, isn't a fan of this tale.) Active Themes.

What is the most direct source text of Chaunticleer's Tale?

The most direct source text of the Tale is a fable by Marie de France. Although it appears to be a simple animal fable with a moral, the Tale ends up being much more complicated, with lots of allusions and plot twists. One morning, Chaunticleer awakens from a terrible nightmare.

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1.What is the main theme of "The Nun's Priest's Tale" in The …

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36 hours ago The main theme in Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale" is pride. Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose pride almost costs him his life. Pertelote is a proud hen whose pride keeps her from ...

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31 hours ago The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of the light-hearted tales of the book, combining the beast fable (a story in which animals are the main characters and used to provide commentary on human …

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18 hours ago The Nun's Priest's ideas and positions are set up in his genially ironic attitude toward both the simple life of the widow and the life of the rich and the great as represented by the cock, …

4.The Nun's Priest's Tale - CliffsNotes

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8 hours ago The moral of the story, says the Nun’s Priest, is to never trust flatterers––perhaps a subtle jab at some of his fellow pilgrims. Though it is also worth noting that there is a moral of not trusting …

6.The Canterbury Tales: The Nun’s Priest’s Tale Summary

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30 hours ago  · The main theme in Chaucer’s “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is pride. Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose pride almost costs him his life. … The fox too is proud

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