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Eglentine from the Canterbury Tales

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Submitted By agupta
Words 339
Pages 2
My pilgrim of choice is Madam Eglentine, a prioress described in the general prologue of the Canterbury Tales. I selected this specific character because Chaucer seems to applaud her seemingly genteel and honorable exterior while also foreshadowing the “scandalous” type of background of the nun. I chose to modernize Madam Eglentine in part because I found her character to be timeless; while Chaucer sets the character of the nun to be on a pilgrimage in the early 14th century, many of her characteristics, namely her multiple personas, enable her to be relatable even in the 21st century. I highlighted Madam Eglentine’s facial features and stately manner because I felt like those external features embodied the values of the person she exemplified. Because she is stately, “her mouth very small, and therewith soft and red” (152), Eglentine seems the ideal person to “weep, if only she saw a mouse caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding” (144). Since I highlighted her facial features and external characteristics in the image, which I believe would lead many to guess to her inner sensitivity, I only briefly discussed her “caring” nature in the couplets. Because the nun is now modernized, I also found it meanwhile to write the words “Love conquers all” (162) on her blouse instead of on her brooch. This creates a more contemporary look while strongly emphasizing the prioress’s odd fashion statement. The rest of the nun’s look is classic, because even though Eglentine is modernized, she is still a priestess who maintains an aura of modesty by wearing a long skirt and a wimpel pleated “most neatly” (151). The couplets, written in iambic pentameter, discuss the differences between what Madam Eglentine shows to the world, being a person “to be held worthy of reverence” (141) and who she may truly be on the inside. These discrepancies are the main reason why I chose Madam

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