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Image: Pilgrims on-route. |
Geoffrey Chaucer’s
most noted work The Canterbury Tales was written in the late
14th century as a set of stories told by a group of people while on
a pilgrimage from
London to
Canterbury. In this work, Chaucer introduces the reader to several
different types and classes of people who have set out for a similar
purpose. As
a means to introduce these characters, Chaucer includes a prologue
to each pilgrim’s tale giving a general description of the persona.
These pilgrims, while on their long journey, take turns amusing each
other by telling stories that vary from humorous to serious, from light
to dark, etc. As a means to introduce these characters, Chaucer includes
a prologue to each pilgrim’s tale giving a general description
of the persona. At this particular time in England’s history,
the Jews had already been expelled in a decree from 1290. As you read
the
Prioress’ Tale, the focus for this exercise, consider the fact
that Jews have been expunged from England for nearly 100 years thus
limiting the contact that the Prioress might have had with any Jews.
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Image: The Prioress
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The
Prioress’ Tale is a short story that recounts
the martyrdom of a young Christian child killed by Jews. This young child
of a widow learns to sing the song ‘Alma Redemptoris’ without
knowing what the words mean. As he walks through the Jewish quarter of
the city each day to get to his Christian
school, he sings this hymn thus infuriating the Jews. The Jews then plot against
him, hiring someone to kill him by slitting his throat, and then dumping his
body into a privy. The slain child’s mother desperately seeks to find
him, and through divine intervention, she finds his body. Although the child
is deceased,
he continues to sing his song and is carried to an abbey where monks inquire
to how he is able to accomplish this. The child tells all of them that the
Virgin Mary placed a grain on his tongue so that he may continue to sing thus
being
unable to join the afterlife until the grain has been removed from his tongue.
In the meantime, as a form of justice, all the Jews are ordered killed. Finally,
after ‘justice’ is served, the grain is removed from the child’s
mouth, he passes on into the next life, and he is made a martyr.
Antisemitism
abounds in this particular tale. This story has long been considered to be
yet another tale of the miracles of the Virgin but the tone is set in
such a way that this supposed miracle is lost in between the conflict between
light
and dark, good and evil, just and unjust. Blatant and obscure antisemitic
references abound in this tale tying in linguistic elements, stereotypes,
the undying
blood libel myth, imagery and symbolism, as well as a host of other themes
of literary
significance.
Of paramount importance in the analysis of this tale is the
abundance of descriptors used throughout to juxtapose the Jews and
their Christian counterparts.
Section
1 is a beautifully written hymn to Mary and her son with flowing and vivid
images of life, love, and dignity. As the tale ensues, there is a gradual
shift into
darker and less than complementary images of Jews and the Jewish Quarter, “For
usury and gain of ill renown, Hateful to Christ and those who are His own” (section
2, lines 4-5). In that same section, Chaucer then shifts to talk about what
lay at either end of the Jewish Quarter. He states that it was “free
and open at each end. A little school for Christian folk there stood” (section
2, lines 7-8). The implication of this is clear; freedom begins where Judaism
ends.
In sections 3 and 4, the imagery of beauty returns to describe the young
choirboy learning to sing a hymn to the Virgin Mary. Once again, when the
focus shifts
back to the Jews, the imagery regains its negativity, “Our primal foe,
the serpent Sathanas, Who has in Jewish heart his hornets’ nest” (section
5, lines 8-9). This type of imagery pervades again in Section 6:
“From that time forth the Jewish
folk conspired, Out of the world this innocent to chase; A murdered
they found and thereto hired… This cursed Jew did seize and
hold him fast, And cut his throat, and in a pit him cast.” (Section
6, lines 1-2, 6-7). |
The slanderous monologue continues referring to Jews as “cursed
folk of Herod” (Section 6, line 10) furthering the deep-seated
antisemitic feeling in this tale. In Section 7, these references continue
to abound with “cursed
Jews” (Section 7, line 14) and “foul place” (Section
7, line 16). Still more of this negative imagery can be found in
Section 9 with the declaration
of the “cursed Hebrews.” Overall, Chaucer uses
his narrative as a medium by which to lament on what he perceives
as the Jewish
character.
The virulent antisemitism found in this particular tale
might be able to be considered merely a product of its time. One
of the problems
of looking
at
historical fiction
is to remember that it may not always be appropriate to approach
it
from a 21st century mindset. The Canterbury Tales, as a whole,
is not an antisemitic
work,
yet The Prioress’ Tale abounds with the longest hatred.
Things to consider when reading The Prioress’ Tale:
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Who is the antisemite? Chaucer or the Prioress?
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How are Christian
values and Church ideals manifested in the writing?
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What is the significance
of the grain placed on the choirboy’s
tongue?
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What other blood libels are mentioned throughout? What
effect might this have?
-
What are some of the symbols and symbolic
elements used in this piece? How is this used?
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What does this work
reflect about justice and innocence?
-
Can the events in Section
9 be considered one of the first pogroms?
—Written by April Crabtree, Intern
Education Department, Florida
Holocaust Museum
Links on Commentary for The Prioress’ Tale:
The Prioress' Tale, THE GEOFFREY CHAUCER PAGE
http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/priort/
Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, "Prioress' Prologue and
Tale"
by Arnie
Sanders, Department of English, Goucher College
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerprioress.htm
The Prioress' Tale, English 404 Resource Page for Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville
http://www.siue.edu/CHAUCER/prioress.html
William Caxton’s two editions (originals) of Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales,
probably printed in 1476 and 1483, are in the British
Library and are now available for viewing online.
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/caxton/homepage.html
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