Canterbury Tales Essay: The Character of the Prioress -- Canterbury Ta

The Character of the Prioress in The Canterbury Tales  Ã‚     In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer writes a prologue in which characters are given at face value.   Then, he writes tales that are spoken by these characters.   Perhaps Chaucer is commenting that people should not judge others by their outward appearance because the differences in the outward character of Chaucer’s travelers are often greatly different than the personality that is shown through their tales.   The Prioress is one character that appears differently than her tale reveals.   The Prioress’s tale is about the brutal murder of a young Jewish boy.   It is a tale of deep-seeded anti-Semitic hatred and fierce violence.   In the general prologue, the narrator has a very different surface impression of the Prioress.   Perhaps it is simply because the presumed male narrator is so taken by the Prioress’s beauty that he failed to see any cues given that may have led him to see the Prioress’s true identity.   However, the Prioress is portrayed as being beautiful and refined, feminine and sensitive, innocent and sweet.   One of the first things that the narrator mentions in the prologue about the Prioress is that she is seemingly educated.   He says, â€Å"She sang the divine service well, entuning it in her nose in a most seemly way.†Ã‚   This means that she was probably at least educated in the ways of the church, if not at a school.   He goes on to mention that â€Å"she spoke French well and properly, after the school of Stratford-at-Bow—† She knew how to speak French but he goes on to say that â€Å"the French of Paris was unknown to her,† so while she was very book educated, she was not worldly.   In the ta... ...ch that she may have led a much happier life in Germany in the 1940’s.   What is it that has made this seemingly polite, caring woman hate a group of people she most likely has never met?   We never find out in the tale or the prologue, but we can suspect that Chaucer wants us to believe that the evil church has poisoned this innocent mind with hatred towards Jews, amongst other things.   The Prioress is just one example of the many flip-flop characters in Chaucer’s tales.   On the outside, the Prioress appears to be someone who your parent’s wish you were like.   However, once you get to know the Prioress through her tale, you wonder if she should instead join Hell’s Angels.   Her thirst for the death of the young Jewish boy makes her frightening, if not almost evil, but at least she wipes her mouth neatly with a napkin.       Canterbury Tales Essay: The Character of the Prioress -- Canterbury Ta The Character of the Prioress in The Canterbury Tales  Ã‚     In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer writes a prologue in which characters are given at face value.   Then, he writes tales that are spoken by these characters.   Perhaps Chaucer is commenting that people should not judge others by their outward appearance because the differences in the outward character of Chaucer’s travelers are often greatly different than the personality that is shown through their tales.   The Prioress is one character that appears differently than her tale reveals.   The Prioress’s tale is about the brutal murder of a young Jewish boy.   It is a tale of deep-seeded anti-Semitic hatred and fierce violence.   In the general prologue, the narrator has a very different surface impression of the Prioress.   Perhaps it is simply because the presumed male narrator is so taken by the Prioress’s beauty that he failed to see any cues given that may have led him to see the Prioress’s true identity.   However, the Prioress is portrayed as being beautiful and refined, feminine and sensitive, innocent and sweet.   One of the first things that the narrator mentions in the prologue about the Prioress is that she is seemingly educated.   He says, â€Å"She sang the divine service well, entuning it in her nose in a most seemly way.†Ã‚   This means that she was probably at least educated in the ways of the church, if not at a school.   He goes on to mention that â€Å"she spoke French well and properly, after the school of Stratford-at-Bow—† She knew how to speak French but he goes on to say that â€Å"the French of Paris was unknown to her,† so while she was very book educated, she was not worldly.   In the ta... ...ch that she may have led a much happier life in Germany in the 1940’s.   What is it that has made this seemingly polite, caring woman hate a group of people she most likely has never met?   We never find out in the tale or the prologue, but we can suspect that Chaucer wants us to believe that the evil church has poisoned this innocent mind with hatred towards Jews, amongst other things.   The Prioress is just one example of the many flip-flop characters in Chaucer’s tales.   On the outside, the Prioress appears to be someone who your parent’s wish you were like.   However, once you get to know the Prioress through her tale, you wonder if she should instead join Hell’s Angels.   Her thirst for the death of the young Jewish boy makes her frightening, if not almost evil, but at least she wipes her mouth neatly with a napkin.      

Christmas past Essay

Ebenezer Scrooge is a tightfisted miser who has only one purpose in life, to extort as much money and profit he can from anything and everything. As with all things, too much of one thing is bad for you; Scrooge’s miserly ways are catching up with him. His cheap ways have not brought him any friends, quite the contrary; they have brought him derision and scorn. He was thought of as â€Å"a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone! † A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, selfish, covetous old sinner! As we can see, he wasn’t a very pleasant person, but that is to be expected of people who work around money all their lives. Money became more than a possession to Scrooge, all his coins were his little children. He kept them safe in their strongboxes. To give away but one petty coin, would have been asking Scrooge to give away part of his soul. He was greedy and crooked to the bone. He was a cold heartless man â€Å"No warmth could warm†¦ No wind that blew was bitter than he. † Scrooge hated the idea that on Christmas day his workers were allowed the day off and Scrooge still had to pay their wages. â€Å"A poor excuse for picking a mans pocket every twenty-fifth of December. † Scrooge dislikes people who try and raise money to help the poor, when the charity workers tell Scrooge some poor people would rather die than work in a workhouse Scrooge replies. â€Å"If they would rather die†¦ They had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. † This quote shows that Scrooge doesn’t care about other people apart from himself. He doesn’t care that other people are worse off than he is and he doesn’t care if they die. â€Å"If I could work my will†¦ Every idiot who goes about with merry Christmas should be boiled with his own pudding. † This is a quote from Scrooge before the ghosts visit him. It shows that Scrooge doesn’t like Christmas and doesn’t like other people enjoying themselves at Christmas. Scrooge wasn’t just miserable and bad tempered at Christmas; he was like that all year round. These famous lines were uttered by Scrooge on Christmas Eve, 7 years to the day, of his old partner, Jacob Marley’s death. Then as Scrooge was about to enter his marvelously slum-like mansion, he looked at his doorknocker, and nearly fainted dead away with fright. â€Å"Scrooge†¦ saw in the knocker†¦ not a knocker, but Marley’s face. † Bad omens breed ill times to come, and this was most definitely a bad omen. â€Å"As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. † Scrooge just thought it was the dark playing with his mind. â€Å"Darkness was cheap and Scrooge liked it. † When Scrooge sat down by the small fire the cellar floor blew open with a booming sound, still Scrooge wouldn’t believe anything strange was happening. â€Å"Its still humbug†¦ I wont believe it. † When the ghost of Marley appears before Scrooge he still doesn’t accept what he’s seeing. The ghost asks Scrooge â€Å"Why do you doubt your senses? † Scrooge replies, â€Å"Because a little thing effects them†¦ there’s more of gravy than of grave about you. † Marleys ghost explains to Scrooge that he is forced to travel around the world; he sees people suffering and cant do anything to help them. Marley’s ghost explains to Scrooge that he is forced to do this in death because of the way he was in life. Marley tells Scrooge that his punishment after life will be even greater because Scrooge was just as bad as Marley and has had an extra seven years of life to do bad things. Marley told Scrooge that unless he changes his ways he will be punished. He tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. â€Å"Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls one. † The ghost of Christmas past was a strange figure. Its hair hung about its neck and was white as if with age. Its arms were very long and muscular. It had a lustrous belt around its waist and was holding a branch of fresh green holy in its hand. â€Å"You are one of those who’s passion made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years. † The ghost said to Scrooge. Meaning because of people like Scrooge the ghost has to visit them. The ghost of Christmas past took Scrooge to the place where he grew up. They saw travelers; Scrooge knew and named every one of them. â€Å"Why did his cold eye glisten†¦ Why did his heart leap as they went past. † The ghost then took Scrooge to his old school; he was the only child left there. All the other children had gone back home to their families for Christmas. The ghost then took Scrooge to a house were a young Scrooge was reading a book by a weak fire. Some actors visited young Scrooge and performed a play for him. Scrooge remembered how lonely he was and how happy the actors made him feel. â€Å"There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night.

Family Memories My Family Vacation - 994 Words

There are certain memories that we have that we can remember like they happened yesterday. Many of those memories that have special meaning to me were of family vacations when I was young growing up with my brothers and sisters. Family memories are important to many of us because they take us back to a time or place that was special. One particular family vacation I remember vividly, and it’s a story I have shared with my kids on many occasions. Over the 40 or more years since that memorable vacation, I still smile and think how lucky I was growing up with a mother and father that did everything to give their kids an unforgettable memory. It was the summer of 1977, and my father decided to pack the station wagon and drive from Fort Worth to Tampa, Florida. Besides my parents in the vehicle, my two sisters and brother also joined us for the long journey. I was young and excited and did not realize the distance my father would be driving on this trip. We made two stops on the wa y down and the first one was in Mississippi at a Holiday Inn. My first time spending the night the night at a hotel occurred on this vacation, and I was excited. We had adjoining rooms with my parents, and we spent the evening in the pool and watching television all night. I was never aware of my parents’ finances but I know now, we did not have a lot of money. From Mississippi, we stopped again in Tallahassee, Florida and we swam in the ocean during the afternoon and hit the hotel pool in theShow MoreRelatedMy Memories A Favorite Memory880 Words   |  4 PagesAn individual’s childhood memory has impacted them in some way whether it be emotionally or physically. From one memory to another, good or bad, develops the entity of a person’s personality or logic. I considered one of my worst memories a favorite memory because, from that experience, I gained development as an individual. 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