The Second Nun - Alex Harrold

Character

What specific occupation does your character practice?
Sharing and spreading Christianity to the people around her.
What does the need for this occupation tell us about the time period?
There really wasn’t a need for this at the time. Those who did not give up their Christianity were executed at the time.
What was his or her social standing?
Her social standing was within the class of servants, soldiers, and members of parliament.
What might your character’s day to day life be like?
Her day to day life would consist of praying to god, spreading Christianity, and doing as her god tells her too.
What details about this character does Chaucer not include?
The details he doesn’t include are the details about why she became a Christian or any backstory besides the tale here of how she got her loved ones killed and became Saint Cecilia .
What modern-day occupation might correspond to your medieval character and why?
Her modern-day occupation would be to be a nun that is part of the Christian church.

Prologue Summary

Paraphrase each line of the prologue describing your character.
The minister and nurse are talking about shunning people who have gone through the gates of pleasure. There are men who wait to seize women and then end up getting caught in a trap. People dread death but also never dread death. Having faith in legends, garlands, and roses as well as Saint Cecilia. The flowers represent virgins and when they wilt they die and can never be reborn as they were. The daughter of the son shows mercy on the souls God doesn’t give goodness to.
Which lines in the prologue best describe your character’s physical appearance?
None of the lines. Chaucer never actually describes the appearance of the Second Nun.
Which lines describe his/her personality?
None of the line. Chaucer never actually describes the personality of the Second Nun.
List at least 5 examples of spelling variations from middle to modern English.
Line 12 “lappe” in middle English and “hem of his garment” in modern English
Line 17 “slogardye” in middle English and “laziness” in modern English
Line 32 “endite” in middle English and “narrate” in modern English
Line 38 1’chees to wone” in middle English and “chose to dwell” in modern English
Line 42 “clothe and wynde” in middle English and “blood and flesh” in modern English

Geoffrey Chaucer Opinion

What is Chaucer’s opinion toward this character?
I couldn’t exactly find an opinion of his on the Second Nun but based off of the tale and prologue, he was somewhat fond of her but definitely did not spend as much time on her as he had done to the other tales.
What specific lines or words tell you this?
The whole tale of the Second Nun seems slightly rushed and almost like there was something else better than having a woman's story about spreading Christianity at a time when it was worth execution.
What word choices require an understanding of vocabulary from the time period?
Understanding the words vices, sly, fiend, and enobeled just to list a few can be somewhat confusing because of the way they are used in the Second Nuns tale.

Sources

“Geoffrey Chaucer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Oct. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey\_Chaucer. “Saint Cecilia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Sept. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint\_Cecilia. “The Second Nun's Prologue.” Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) "The Canterbury Tales" (in Middle English and Modern English), www.librarius.com/cantales.htm. “The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale.” The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale, Interlinear Translations, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/snt-par.htm#TOP. YouTube, 29 Nov. 2017, youtu.be/dvxIgwZ9WWQ.