Themes
" The Prioress's Tale" is one of the shorter tales that Chaucer chooses to incorporate into his story; however, it is filled with some of the best morals in the book. Such as the classic moral an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. The Jews kill the the widow'a son and the christian community goes for blood. Clearly this will only end up with more violence and death as these situations always do. In fact the Christians end up hanging the Jews in revolt of the death of this boy.
Another theme that is displayed in this story is the idea of stereotyping. The stereotyping they use in this part of the book represents the Jews as horrible people that know one wanted to be around. Their personality's were described as being a lying cheating blood thirsty people who hated Christians and were easily tempted by Satan. They lived in the ghetto so they must be bad. A theme we still follow today, except instead of the Jews being bad and living in the ghetto today it is the blacks. the tale goes on to make the Jews seem to believe and focus on worldly things such as money and power opposed to the Christian community which is described as being focused on otherworldly things (meaning god)
Another theme that is strongly emphasized is the idea that no matter how horrible your life is the one's who trust in Christ will live happy lives, and end up sitting with the lord in the afterlife. For example this child has a terrible life in the eyes of some. He lives near the ghetto, does not have a father, has an over protective mother, and ends up being brutally murdered. As this boy is dying mother Mary restores his singing voice so he may sing "O Alma Redemptoris" one final time.. Singing along with being spoken to by god himself is what leads the boy's mother to the pit in which he lay. This is the most important theme in this story probably because the Prioress is a religious figure herself and believes this to be the most important herself.
Finally the last theme focused on in this tale is the idea of community built through religion. Just like it was socially unacceptable for White men and women to be seen with black men and women in the U.S before 1960 it was unacceptable for Christians to be seen with Jews in Chaucer's time. The church or temple was seen as your family and going against your "family" was not an option during this time period. The sense of community is shown after the little boy is killed. His christian family is so upset with his murdering that they go out and murder many of the Jews and one final reminder to the boy that they are his family and they have his back. This is one of the reasons Christians and Jews were so different in this time period. They never associated with each other, and was not willing to consider and respect the other's way of life.
The Prioress's tale is filled with many religious themes, and is described as even going over the edge in criticizing the Jewish community. Chaucer uses these themes to demonstrate how religion dominated medieval life and played an important part in all decisions made. All the wars of his time were fought over religion. All problems of his time were caused by religion and he attempts to depict an example of it through The Prioress's tale.
Another theme that is displayed in this story is the idea of stereotyping. The stereotyping they use in this part of the book represents the Jews as horrible people that know one wanted to be around. Their personality's were described as being a lying cheating blood thirsty people who hated Christians and were easily tempted by Satan. They lived in the ghetto so they must be bad. A theme we still follow today, except instead of the Jews being bad and living in the ghetto today it is the blacks. the tale goes on to make the Jews seem to believe and focus on worldly things such as money and power opposed to the Christian community which is described as being focused on otherworldly things (meaning god)
Another theme that is strongly emphasized is the idea that no matter how horrible your life is the one's who trust in Christ will live happy lives, and end up sitting with the lord in the afterlife. For example this child has a terrible life in the eyes of some. He lives near the ghetto, does not have a father, has an over protective mother, and ends up being brutally murdered. As this boy is dying mother Mary restores his singing voice so he may sing "O Alma Redemptoris" one final time.. Singing along with being spoken to by god himself is what leads the boy's mother to the pit in which he lay. This is the most important theme in this story probably because the Prioress is a religious figure herself and believes this to be the most important herself.
Finally the last theme focused on in this tale is the idea of community built through religion. Just like it was socially unacceptable for White men and women to be seen with black men and women in the U.S before 1960 it was unacceptable for Christians to be seen with Jews in Chaucer's time. The church or temple was seen as your family and going against your "family" was not an option during this time period. The sense of community is shown after the little boy is killed. His christian family is so upset with his murdering that they go out and murder many of the Jews and one final reminder to the boy that they are his family and they have his back. This is one of the reasons Christians and Jews were so different in this time period. They never associated with each other, and was not willing to consider and respect the other's way of life.
The Prioress's tale is filled with many religious themes, and is described as even going over the edge in criticizing the Jewish community. Chaucer uses these themes to demonstrate how religion dominated medieval life and played an important part in all decisions made. All the wars of his time were fought over religion. All problems of his time were caused by religion and he attempts to depict an example of it through The Prioress's tale.