Questions for the Nun's Priest's Tale

1. The tale presents a great opportunity to see the life of the peasantry, mostly obscured in the
Tales. The “povre wydwe” runs a marginal homestead farm that barely supports her and her
maid-servant, Malkyn. What other aspects of this household tell you things about the
economic realities of late 14th C. English peasant life? Why might the Nun's Priest pay such
close attention to this setting before moving into the beast fable?

2. With what kind of language does the narrator describe Chanticleer and Pertelote (p. 234)?
Compare it with the description of the Prioress in the General Prologue and the Nun’s Priest in
the Epilogue. Note that Chanticleer is the only rooster among hens and the priest is the only
male in a community of women (the three priests in the GP have been reduced to one). To
what extent does the tale offer an ironic commentary on (or wishful rethinking of) the Nun's
Priest's situation?

3. Medieval philosophers thought dreams might be of several kinds. The most important
difference was between the somnium naturale which arose from natural causes and the
somnium coeleste sent from heaven to warn and instruct. Which kind of dream does Pertelote
think Chanticleer has had? Which kind does Chanticleer think he had?
Pertelote's name translates from the French as “one who confuses someone's lot or fate.” Does
she deserve this name? Conversely, Chanticleer means “one who sings clearly.” By his name
and otherwise, what is the Nun's Priest saying about this rooster’s capacity to read the world, a
much prized characteristic in the Tales and one that is of particular importance in The Miller’s
Tale and the Wife of Bath’s Prologue? (Think back to Chanticleer’s ability to tell the time
better than even the clock.)

5. Mulier est hominis confusio means “Woman is man’s ruination,” not “Woman is man’s delight
and all his bliss”! Do you think that this is an intentional misreading on Chanticleer’s part? If
so, why? If not, how might this relate to other tales in which people misread situations and
texts? Especially compare his conclusion with his argument on the second indent on 244.

6. On 243 the narrator delves into the problem of fate and freewill with the Boethian question of
God’s foreknowledge and human choice. This was a perplexing question for Chaucer and his
contemporaries. Indeed, Chaucer translated Boethius extensively. What is the effect of this
question being reduced to a tale about a fox and a rooster?

7. What do you make of the heavily allusive style of this “mock epic?” How about the narrator’s
use of history, philosophy, and epic when describing the thoughts and actions of the tale’s
animal characters. The mock epic even compares Chanticleer’s situation to that of Priam, king
of Troy, and the hens’ clucking to the lamentations of the Trojan women (p. 246-7). Does this
elevate the rooster or deflate epic and history? How might this operate as satire?

8. The fox's quick and soothing voice plays on Chanticleer’s vanity with unerring skill. What
does he praise and how does it set up the trap he is about to spring? How does this complicate
the reading of Chanticleer as the ideal reader?