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Group Members
Andrew Ho
Teresa Wu
Vanessa Lin
Lawrence Hsu
In
"the Nun's Priest's Tale," there are three main characters in this short
story, but none of them is human being. A cock whose name is Chanticleer,
and the second leading role, Chanticleer's wife, a hen with the fairest
hued on her throat, whose name is Fair Miss Pertelote. The last part
is a fox without being mentioned his name. As usual, he plays the
evil role in the best fable again.
The whole
story caused from a frightened dream of Chanticleer. He described
that in his dream, he saw a beast like a hound, who would have seized upon
his body, and would have killed him. Nevertheless, Miss Pertelote
convinced that dreams have no meaning at all. She looked down the
anxiety and cowardice of her husband of his shocked attitude. In
her mind, that was superstitious to believe in the dream.
Therefore,
in the following pages, Chaucer put lots of efforts on narrating the process
of the discussion between the cock and the hen. In order to
argue whether the rooster should fear his dream or not, Chanticleer quoted
many classics to support his point of view. Parts of them are derived
from diverse places, such as the historical records, the exemplum in Bible,
or the stories in Mythology.
After the
long and garrulous discussion about dreams, the another climax of the tale
appears. The last character, fox, finally comes on the stage.
The way he showed up was narrated in quite dramatic description.
It says, "Following a butterfly, Chanticleer notices the fox."”Meanwhile,
it seems implies an idea that blesses is often followed by the misfortune.
Before Chanticleer was conscious that he should run away immediately, the
fox began to flatter him and lied that he only wants to hear his wonderful
voice. Because of the weakness of "vanity," the cock is ravished
by its cunning flattery. When Chanticleer breaks into song, at the
same moment, the fox grabs Chanticleer by his neck and begin to run.
With the whole entire farm all chased after him, the fox couldn't refrain
from the suggestion of the cock and turn around to laugh at those in pursuit.
As he opened the mouth, simultaneously, Chanticleer scrambled up a nearby
tree straightaway for safety. Though the fox tried again and again
to appeal to Chanticleer's vanity, it doesn't work at the second time.