Prioress
Definition: a nun who is head of a religious house or order
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prioress
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prioress
The Prioress, also known as Madame Eglantine is described as a very delicate and dainty character. She possesses many talents and behaves perfectly. Oddly enough, she is an ironic character for, as a nun, she is cited as wearing elegant clothes and a gold brooch with the saying "Love Conquers All" in Latin. She worries too much about minor issues and wants to perceived by society as someone without any flaws.
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The autobiography was a fundamental piece of evidence in order to integrate the character in modern times. A blog was the ideal mechanism found by our group to decompose and analyze the prioress. A personal blog is informal and not as common as social medias; the Prioress would have created it for its liberty and elaborative design. That way she could distinguish herself as well as express her opinions, by creating her own layout for the blog; somewhat correspondingly to the Prioress in the General Prologue, who used jewelry and thus was slightly different from the other nuns.
Everything on the blog contributed to create the illusion that Madame Eglantine was an impressive person. Many components were used in order to perform that task. From the excessive use of hashtags, to font and the color of the texts to even the subject of the same, every aspect of the blog as a whole was consciously planned to alienate the public to perceive her as unique and remarkable. The posts merely focus on futile issues such as TV shows, Starbucks and fashion. They only glamorize and emphasize the character’s personality. At any given moment however, one cannot observe a post approaching a substantial issue. Likewise the original profile of the Prioress, she simply worries about being elegant; whether if she is eating, speaking another language or even singing. One specific post that evidences the irony and hypocrisy of the character is the one entitled, Today I Went to a Puppy Shelter. In this post, the author describes her visit to a puppy shelter; there she encounters several dogs in the need of a family. The Prioress urges for the readers to adopt a dog instead of buying one; however, ironically, she bought her own dog in a pet shop. This post exemplifies the general profile of the original character; it demonstrates the neglecting of the character concerning issues that indeed need to be addressed. By stating that she acquired her dog in a pet shop evidences her carelessness concerning the matter. She also states, in her biography that she does community service even though she is not actually interested on them. By doing that, the group hoped to imply that she only does community service, as well as other activities, for appearance’s sake. She rather write about innocent subjects that are popular between people nowadays, such as fashion, than a polemic and controversial topic, for she acknowledges she would be criticized and judged by certain people. |
Digital Commonplace book
The prioress is portrayed as a materialistic and fake nun, we chose to use Instagram for the digital commonplace book because it is a place where fake and artsy people thrive. Below are the pictures that capture the idea of the prioress the most.
Full Paper
Reasons Behind Our Decisions
The General Prologue, written by Chaucer traces the profiles of several characters present in The Canterbury Tales. Those profiles are valuable sources for characterizing how society was structured the time the frame story occurs. However, readers should examine Chaucer’s writings with more attention, for criticisms lie underneath the profile of each character. By detailing each pilgrim, Chaucer discretely analyzes how society, at the time, was poorly settled. Chaucer furtively alienates the public to perceive each pilgrim as an allegory to each component of society. One of the most vibrant characters Chaucer explores is the Prioress, or Madame Eglantine. Supposedly she is the head of the house of a certain order of nuns; she holds power and influence; therefore the reader associates her character as being pious, honest and sincere. Nevertheless, she is, in fact, just the opposite; she proves herself to be a hypocritical person that is everything but ecclesiastical. It is odd to feel sympathy for her character as she adopts a persona that doesn’t correspond with her true self. In summary, the prioress is generally viewed as a hypocritical person whom actions and attitudes are only performed for appearance’s sake.
In this project, the group has attempted to faithfully portray the Prioress as a modern individual. In our perception, the Prioress was a very interesting character to adapt; the concept of familiarizing such an ancient character definitely sparked our interest. Oddly enough, the Prioress’ personality can still be seen in society nowadays. In summary, the prioress is an ironic, hypocritical and egoistic character; and Chaucer sarcastically portrays her. The Prioress has unique manners and behaves perfectly; however, the author implies that she behaves in such way not because she is required to, but rather because she feels empowered and important acting this way. She worries disproportionately about minor issues compared to the big ones:
She wiped her upper lip so clean
That in her cup there was seen no tiny bit
Of grease, when she had drunk her drink.
(Chaucer 133 – 135)
She demands attention constantly and generally wants to be acknowledged by others as something she actually doesn’t stand for. This character is substantially ironic for she is a member of the church and elegant at the same time. She is opposite of what she supposedly represents – a religious figure. She works exhaustively in order to reach one single objective: to be socially accepted within the society; she seeks to be noticed and receive the approval of society. Being faithful to the phrase “twas ever thus,” or “things never change,” the persona of the prioress can still be noticed in modern times. In our opinion, the characteristics of the prioress mostly correspond with the features of the modern “basic girl” stereotype. In contemporary medias, this term is used to describe a girl who is constantly seeking attention; she will exploit any means necessary in order to receive as much attention as she desires. She will behave accordingly to what society finds socially acceptable and impressive. Hence the group believe that both the prioress and the cliché described are somewhat related and correspond to each other.
The autobiography was a fundamental piece of evidence in order to integrate the character in modern times. A blog was the ideal mechanism found by our group to decompose and analyze the prioress. A personal blog is informal and not as common as social medias; the Prioress would have created it for its liberty and elaborative design. That way she could distinguish herself as well as express her opinions, by creating her own layout for the blog; somewhat correspondingly to the Prioress in the General Prologue, who used jewelry and thus was slightly different from the other nuns.
Everything on the blog contributed to create the illusion that Madame Eglantine was an impressive person. Many components were used in order to perform that task. From the excessive use of hashtags, to font and the color of the texts to even the subject of the same, every aspect of the blog as a whole was consciously planned to alienate the public to perceive her as unique and remarkable. The posts merely focus on futile issues such as TV shows, Starbucks and fashion. They only glamorize and emphasize the character’s personality. At any given moment however, one cannot observe a post approaching a substantial issue. Likewise the original profile of the Prioress, she simply worries about being elegant; whether if she is eating, speaking another language or even singing.
One specific post that evidences the irony and hypocrisy of the character is the one entitled, Today I Went to a Puppy Shelter. In this post, the author describes her visit to a puppy shelter; there she encounters several dogs in the need of a family. The Prioress urges for the readers to adopt a dog instead of buying one; however, ironically, she bought her own dog in a pet shop. This post exemplifies the general profile of the original character; it demonstrates the neglecting of the character concerning issues that indeed need to be addressed. By stating that she acquired her dog in a pet shop evidences her carelessness concerning the matter. She also states, in her biography that she does community service even though she is not actually interested on them. By doing that, the group hoped to imply that she only does community service, as well as other activities, for appearance’s sake. She rather write about innocent subjects that are popular between people nowadays, such as fashion, than a polemic and controversial topic, for she acknowledges she would be criticized and judged by certain people.
Along with the blog, the Facebook page is a fundamental piece of the autobiography as it gives descriptive information about the prioress herself. The page expresses information like where she is from, where she lives, her education, and things that interest her. Creating a Facebook page as a part of her autobiography helps viewers notice a lot of her background information that is very essential to her personality. Some information provided on the page includes, “Education: Master’s Degree in Cosmetology. Work: Makeup Artist at Victoria's Secret.” This was added because as the prioress cares a lot about her appearance, majoring in cosmetology and working as a makeup artist fits her well. As the prioress can best be described from her elegance, our Facebook page provides facts that would significantly fit her personality.