Geoffrey Chaucer was an English writer who based his works on previous events that happened before he lived. It is extremely likely that the stories of the Hugh of Lincoln and William of Norwich led him to write the Prioress’ Tale was the “blood libel”. These blood libels were taking place even before Chaucer wrote the Canterbury tales in the 14th century.
Throughout history there have been several different false accusations made on the Jews. One of these accusations stated that the Jews were murdering children and using their blood to perform their unique customs and Holidays. In the past, these claims as well as several other accusations have been a recurring theme in the European persecution of the Jews. The common accusations regarding …show more content…
Her icon suggests that she is likely in the clergy. She sustains a very secular lifestyle. She owns a brooch, and inscribed in it are the words "Amor vincit omnia" (Love Conquers All). She is supposed to be a Nun, who claims to be sympathetic on all of God’s creations, yet she constantly bashes on the Jews and everything they do, and she tries to get them into trouble. She wears the brooch that says “Amor vincit omnia" but this doesn’t show what her actual attitude was towards certain things in life. The Prioress’ story is of a child martyr that is killed by Jews (Hugh of Lincoln). Christians considered this to be a common theme in their history (killing of child martyrs) and this brought about much of their Anti-Semitism. There is a lot of criticism on Chaucer because of the Anti- Semitism in this part of the book …show more content…
The way this tale is told I think it would be hard to believe, that after writing all this, Chaucer was in fact an Anti-Semite. Because Chaucer spoke so much about Anti-Semitism in this tale, no one realizes that this story is in fact filled with absurd things, such as the little boy in the beginning of the tale memorizing and singing O Alma Redemptoris. So, even though it appears that Chaucer is extremely Anti-Semitic from this story, it doesn’t automatically mean that he in fact was Anti-Semitic.
As great as an author that Chaucer was, he still wrote about opinions that he did not completely agree with. Over and over again, authors such as Chaucer would write about issues that would show their crazy nature and the stupidity of believing some of these opinions. That is what Chaucer did in the writing of the “Prioress Tale” in The Canterbury
Throughout history there have been several different false accusations made on the Jews. One of these accusations stated that the Jews were murdering children and using their blood to perform their unique customs and Holidays. In the past, these claims as well as several other accusations have been a recurring theme in the European persecution of the Jews. The common accusations regarding …show more content…
Her icon suggests that she is likely in the clergy. She sustains a very secular lifestyle. She owns a brooch, and inscribed in it are the words "Amor vincit omnia" (Love Conquers All). She is supposed to be a Nun, who claims to be sympathetic on all of God’s creations, yet she constantly bashes on the Jews and everything they do, and she tries to get them into trouble. She wears the brooch that says “Amor vincit omnia" but this doesn’t show what her actual attitude was towards certain things in life. The Prioress’ story is of a child martyr that is killed by Jews (Hugh of Lincoln). Christians considered this to be a common theme in their history (killing of child martyrs) and this brought about much of their Anti-Semitism. There is a lot of criticism on Chaucer because of the Anti- Semitism in this part of the book …show more content…
The way this tale is told I think it would be hard to believe, that after writing all this, Chaucer was in fact an Anti-Semite. Because Chaucer spoke so much about Anti-Semitism in this tale, no one realizes that this story is in fact filled with absurd things, such as the little boy in the beginning of the tale memorizing and singing O Alma Redemptoris. So, even though it appears that Chaucer is extremely Anti-Semitic from this story, it doesn’t automatically mean that he in fact was Anti-Semitic.
As great as an author that Chaucer was, he still wrote about opinions that he did not completely agree with. Over and over again, authors such as Chaucer would write about issues that would show their crazy nature and the stupidity of believing some of these opinions. That is what Chaucer did in the writing of the “Prioress Tale” in The Canterbury