Psychoanalytical Characterization (Jason Previlon)
Prioress: The Prioress is narcissistic pseudo-perfectionist. Her need to be perfect in the eyes of the church, God, and socially drives her to take a narcissistic view on life. The prioress on numerous occasions puts herself in the limelight unconsciously. “And well she sang service, ... not a morsel from her lip did she let fall, nor dripped her finger too deep” ( Chaucer 6). In the Prioress portrait she takes a different approach than the rest of pilgrims, she decides to pray out loud. " ... For as a child a twelvemonth old, or less, That hardly has a word it can express, Just so am I, and therefore pity me! Guide thou the song that I shall sing for thee" (Chaucer 169-170). When the prioress asked for pity in her prayer she wan't just asking the virgin Mary, no. The prioress was using her position as Prioress to reach out to everyone ans ask them for pity, putting her square in everyone's hearts.
The son of the widow: “Sitting at school, heard other children sing O Alma Redemptoris from their book. Close as he dared he drew himself to look, and he listened carefully to work and part until he knew the opening verse by heart” (171)
Reading this excerpt from the Canterbury Tales, I immediately note that the widow's son is a lonely soul, even more so for the fact his mother is a widow. Psychoanalytical the widow's son is emotion focused coping using his talent of sing to deal with stress and depression.
Widow: Though Chaucer doesn't say exactly how the husband of the widow died, One would infer he died a martyr. If her husband is a martyr that would explain why she tell her son to always run through the ghettos of the Jews. “And day by day to school he used to run and had the custom (for he had been told to do so) [By the widow]” (171). Psychoanalytical the Widow is using sensitization to cope with her husbands death. Sensitization is when a person seeks to learn about, rehearse, and/or anticipate fearful events in a protective effort to prevent these events from occurring in the first place. Sensitization s maladaptive coping, meaning it had doesn't really fix the problem. This become even more evident when her only son doesn't return home on time. “This wretched widow waited all night, .... All pale with sleepless dread and busy thought.”
Jews: The Jews were motivated to kill the widow’s son, because of their mistreatment in medieval society. They were frown upon for their occupational as a loan shark and tax collectors. WIlliam DeFoore, an anger-management writer, described anger as a pressure cooker "we can only apply pressure against our anger for a certain amount of time until it explodes." This is what exactly happened to the Jews, with satin the serpent being the catalyst in the situation, they "blew a fuse". At first read on would suspect the Jews for being horrible people and deserving of their gruesome fate. Rereading it again through critical lens one can see that Chaucer is trying to hint at the mistreatment of Jews in medieval times
The son of the widow: “Sitting at school, heard other children sing O Alma Redemptoris from their book. Close as he dared he drew himself to look, and he listened carefully to work and part until he knew the opening verse by heart” (171)
Reading this excerpt from the Canterbury Tales, I immediately note that the widow's son is a lonely soul, even more so for the fact his mother is a widow. Psychoanalytical the widow's son is emotion focused coping using his talent of sing to deal with stress and depression.
Widow: Though Chaucer doesn't say exactly how the husband of the widow died, One would infer he died a martyr. If her husband is a martyr that would explain why she tell her son to always run through the ghettos of the Jews. “And day by day to school he used to run and had the custom (for he had been told to do so) [By the widow]” (171). Psychoanalytical the Widow is using sensitization to cope with her husbands death. Sensitization is when a person seeks to learn about, rehearse, and/or anticipate fearful events in a protective effort to prevent these events from occurring in the first place. Sensitization s maladaptive coping, meaning it had doesn't really fix the problem. This become even more evident when her only son doesn't return home on time. “This wretched widow waited all night, .... All pale with sleepless dread and busy thought.”
Jews: The Jews were motivated to kill the widow’s son, because of their mistreatment in medieval society. They were frown upon for their occupational as a loan shark and tax collectors. WIlliam DeFoore, an anger-management writer, described anger as a pressure cooker "we can only apply pressure against our anger for a certain amount of time until it explodes." This is what exactly happened to the Jews, with satin the serpent being the catalyst in the situation, they "blew a fuse". At first read on would suspect the Jews for being horrible people and deserving of their gruesome fate. Rereading it again through critical lens one can see that Chaucer is trying to hint at the mistreatment of Jews in medieval times