Psychoanalytical Criticism | |
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Psychoanalytical Criticism
In, short the Prioress follows Chaucer's basic flow of characters of not being ordinary and different. In it's entirety the literary criticism supports my conclusion that the Prioress is a narcissist on several points. The literary criticism goes on to compare the Prioress to known saints, such as St. Benedict; and goes on to compare the Prioress to other Pilgrims as a whole. If you would like to read the article visit the works cited page
Speaking of The Prioress
As a person in her own circle, she falls in line with the general trend of Chaucer’s characters. He simply refuses to paint a common, ordinary, and non-distinctive character. We meet no run-of-the-mill knight in the Canterbury Tales: here we find a verray, parfit gentil knyght. The Monk is best of his type, a fair for the maistrie: in alle the ordres four is noon that kan so muchel of saliance and fair langage as the Friar. There was nowhere swich a vavsour as the Frankeleyn: and the parson of the town! a bettre preest I trowe that nowhere noon ys. So greet a purchasour was nowhere noon, ne was ther swich another pardoners, as those found in the immortal Prologue. And, if all England could discover a more interesting Prioress than this one, then surely Chaucer was not so observant as we are inclined to believe. We are forced to acknowledge that Chaucer searched far and wide for a Prioress par excellence If she is not sui generis, then she has no right to answer the roll call of those unique characters in the Canterbury Tales.
She had such a curious mixture of conscience, so charitable and pitous, and of tendre herte; She was so ful pleasaunt and amyable port that she would attract attention anywhere.
For the most part we cannot judge a person's spirituallity from externals: we cannot evven be dogmatically certain, with Kittredge, that the Pardoner was the one lost sould in the crowd. THe prioress was such a compound of courtly manners and quaint habits that a judgement is especially temerarious in her case. "She is certainly not a saint," says Professor Patch. "She is certainly not a devil," is the final remark of this paper: that is judgement enough. "