Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer writes a series of stories, named The Canterbury Tales, in which her gives his opinion on many people and situations. He uses the stories to mock others and display morals through his stories. The Prioress Tale is just one of the several stories that were written to express an opinion of the Catholic church on their beliefs and customs. The narrator of the tale gives her worldview of through a very religious tale that reflects the church’s judgments of Jews.
The Prioress Tale is told through the perspective of a nun who values and praises the Virgin Mary. “Lady, thy goodness and thy generous grace. Thy virtue and thy great humility- no tongue may say, no pen may fully trace” (Chaucer lines 23-24). The Prioress states that Virgin Mary is generous to all and that no one should question her or doubt her abilities. The Prioress tells a story to explain her beliefs about Mary’s greatness but also to show the anti-semitism she has towards Jews. The story revolves around a little boy who learns a song called Alma Redemptoris and he would sing this song when passing through the Jewish quarters.

Jesus then gives the mother the idea of singing where the boy was killed and even though the boys throat was cut he began to sing once again. Then the boy explains why he was able to sing to all the amazed people that were gathered witnessing this miracle. The little boy says that Mary put a grain on his tongue allowing him to croon his little heart out. “She laid a precious pearl upon my tongue wherefore I sing and sing” (Chaucer line 211). This part of the story proves the nun’s impression of Mary but whatever happened to the