The Prioress Nun

Out of all the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales, one of them in particular has caught my eye. This pilgrim would be the prioress. Why, you ask? Mainly because of her beauty and grace. Geoffrey Chaucer seems to place her as a perfect china doll. He describes her as coy and solicitous with her manners and charm. Coy according to the Oxford dictionary is described as: quiet, still; modest, and gentle. Solicitous also according to the Oxford dictionary is described as: full of care or concern; anxious, apprehensive, and disquiet. The prioress is pretty much a gentle soul. Chaucer hit it right on the head with the words coy and solicitous. To back-up the description, it even says in the poem: “As for her sympathies and tender feelings,/she was so charitably solicitous/She used to weep if she but saw a mouse caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding.” (Pg. 105, lines 146-149). The prioress could have been the forerunner to a young beautiful Mother Teresa.

The fact the nun is a prioress also suggests that she is superior in her profession. A prioress by definition is a nun holding a position under an abbess similar to a cloistral prior; also, one governing her own house like a conventual prior. (Oxford dictionary) In other words, the prioress is second in command to the head nun in an abbey.

Chaucer also makes this pilgrim sentiment. None of the seven deadly sins seem to match her at all. I think the prioress would be on this pilgrimage for Christly reasons due to the fact she seems to have not a strain of sin or guilt on her sweet soul. He even names her Madam Eglantyne. Eglantyne is a honeysuckle. Honeysuckles are lovely and sweet flowers. I think the eglantyne and Madam Eglantyne perfectly describe the prioress.