Character Study

This past year has been one hell of a maze with its dead ends, twists and turns, I thought to myself as I slumped into my burgundy couches, but I've finally made it out of that first level. The view of the serene woods encompassed my vision as I stared out the window recollecting the journey that brought me to my new life in Santa Cruz...

The tears tickled my cheek as they dripped down my distraught face. What am I doing with my life? I thought as I looked at the untouched pile of homework. That drive for learning had slipped from my grasp as a severe case of senioritis kicked in at the worst possible time. While college applications opened up, my motivation shut down and carelessness was a new attribute of mine. 30 minutes later and I'm still sitting here crying because reality ransacked me, HARD. That's it. I stood up, wiped my tears, grabbed my purse off the coat hanger and walked out the front door, determined.

"Where are you going!" My stalky brother yelled after me.

"Crazy!" I hollered back to him.

Truthfully, I had no idea where I was going but all I knew was I was going to get my motivation back one way or another. I hopped in my silver bullet car and hit the 101 heading north.

The evening sky had dissipated into complete darkness when my phone began ringing off the hook. "Mom" *buzz buzz* "Mom" *buzz buzz* I ignored the calls and shot my mom a text saying I was okay and I'll be home tomorrow. I knew this wasn't going to be pretty when I got home so I turned off my phone and continued to drive into the unknown. I decided to pull over when my eyelids turned into 10 pound weights. As I pulled off the exit, a sign read "Cambria." Cambria! The most scenic town I've ever been to, although it has a complete different vibe when the sun goes down. I parked in a little dirt parking area next to the beach and crawled in my back seat to lay down. The flow of the waves creeped through my cracked windows and sung me to sleep.

The next morning, I beat the sunrise and continued my drive up north. After a couple hours I reached Santa Cruz and decided to stop at the college since I've never seen it before. The atmosphere hit me like a bullet, the peacefulness of the rustling trees and the smell of nature encompassed my whole being. I walked around the campus awed at the structures of the buildings that contained more windows than wall. I sat at a bench in front of the library taking in the beauty of the peace I found. At that moment I realized this is it. This is where I belong, at college in this earthly town. I began to feel the motivation mold itself inside of me as I thought of my future and the steps I needed in order to achieve my dream.

I began walking back to my car with a bounce in my step and a goal to be motivated by. Just as I walked into the parking lot, I see my AVID class all piling out of a charter bus.

"Hey!" I shout as they all turn and look at me.

"What are you doing here!" Chrystal comes up to me and asks.

"Oh yenno I thought I'd just go for a little drive."

"You weirdo you would!" she says jokingly and punches me in the arm.

After greeting the whole clan, Mrs. K tells me to tour the school with them before I leave. I agreed without a fight and strolled around my future school one last time before heading home and getting back on my school grind.

Tale of a Canterbury Tale

THE PRIORESS
Prologue:
In the prologue, the prioress praises Mary the mother of Jesus. Her prologue is also a preview into her following tale.

Tale Summary:
The story takes place at a town in Asia where the majority of the population is Christian, in this town lives a little boy who walks up and down a road that leads the towns children to the Christian school at the end of the road. One day, the little boy overheard the older kids singing O Alma Redemptoris meaning "Gracious Mother of the Redeemer." The boy begs his friend to teach him the song since it's not in his native tongue after he discovers it's a hymn of praise for the Virgin Mary. After a short period of time the boy's friend agrees and teaches him the song, to which he "would merrily be signing everyday." One day Satan twisted the heart's of his fellow Jews whispering to them that the boy's song was a mockery since they lacked interpretation of the song. Therefore, the Jews hired someone to slit the throat of the boy as he was walking to school.
As the days progressed on worry began to build in the mother as she went looking for her son with no luck. Finally, "Jesus, by his grace, put in her mind" the location of the ditch were her son lay. Astonishingly, the boy breaks out in the hymn and all the townspeople gather to see. The boy proclaims that the Jews responsible were to be put to "pain and shameful death." The boy explains the Mother Mary placed a pearl on his tongue and urged him to continue to sing until his appropriate burial when the pearl is taken away. At the end of the tale, a monk removes the pearl and "the child gave up the ghost, soft and serene."
The boy's name is revealed at the end of the tale as Hugh of Lincoln and a memorial was made to praise the boy who was from then on proclaimed a martyr.

Canterbury Tales Hacked

AUDIO:
If you comprehend a story better by listening to it read to you rather than reading it yourself, here's this awesome website called LibriVox I found where you can hear the audio version of the prologue and each character's tale. The best part is, it's an actual human reading and not a Siri sounding, monotoned robot.

TEXT:
If you prefer reading a story, here's a source with the prologue in it's original text and modern english text. Another source containing the general prologue as well as both prologue and tale of each character can be found here. Hope this helps!

Canterbury Tales 2: Character Notes (The Prioress)

In the prologue, the narrator describes the Prioress as a well-mannered, sensitive and elegant person. She was always free from blemish never failing to eat without a simple drop of food to fall on her. She was also known as Madame Eglantine who studied French but still hasn't gotten the hang of it. Her incorrect French is just one of many contradictions of this woman's life and appearance in general. Although she tries hard to act as a prioress, she simply is not a natural. The cracks in her dainty manner exploits her true self of a large women with contradicting behaviors. The prioress is, what we'd call, a good actor as she pretends to be as elegant as she's supposed to be with a lady of such status. For example, it's ironic how "she would weep if she but saw a mouse caught in a trap" yet she feeds her two hounds roasted flesh without a flinch. Her jewelry attire also suggests that she is a worldly woman trapped in a prioress's suit. Her necklace that reads "Love Conquers All" could be a reference to romances rather than God, since that was a popularity of women's literature at the time. The Prioress is another one of Canterbury Tale's contradicting characters as she tries hard to be perceived as something she is not, making her look like nonsensical.

Canterbury Tales 1: Prologue Notes

BEGINNING:

The narrator starts the story off as describing the encompassing environment, detailing the blossoming of Spring and the desire for several pilgrimages to different shrines. He states that Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral is a highly renowned destination for people to visit when the martyr helped them when they were "ill and weal". At the Tabard Inn in Southwark, the narrator comes across a group of 29 or so travelers. The narrator then continues to briefly describe each character.

PROLOGUE:

In the Prologue the narrator says how he has described what has happened that night when he met the characters and his objective view of all of them. He also, in lack of better terms, asks that "you'll not ascribe it vulgarity" as he has stated the good and bad of each character and every action and word they've uttered. He does this to show his accountability of the truth since he believes that if he left out the flaws, the story would be untrue. He then continues remembering the dinner that led to the beginning of their tell-tale-off. The host, drunk with wine, brought up the suggestion that each traveler tell 2 tales to Canterbury and 2 tales back home and the one with the best tales would receive a large feast upon their return home. The host decided that he would be the judge of each one's tale. To determine who would begin, the travelers who picked the shortest stick would start off their tell-tale-off. The Knight returned with the shortest stick of all, at the relief of the others the Knight, who  was a "wise man and obedient", began his tale with a willing attitude.

The Prologue concludes with the end of their stay at the Inn as they head off to Canterbury and the Knight begins his tale.

CHARACTER:
Personally I'd like to read the tale of the Prioress because I think it would be interesting to see the type of thoughts that flow through such a daintiness and graciousness person. Her proper etiquette seems to be a guard to ward off the true her trapped inside from coming out. To hear her tale would be somewhat of a transparency into her mind and thoughts of the world around her.

Canterbury Characters

You can find each character's prologue and text in modern English here.

CHARACTERS:

• The Knight
• The Squire
• The Yeoman
• The Prioress
• The Nun
• The Three Priests
• The Monk
• The Friar
• The Merchant
• The Clerk
• The Lawyer
• The Franklin
• The Haberdasher, The Carpenter, The Weaver, The Dyer & The Arras-maker
• The Cook
• The Sailor
• The Physician
• The Wife of Bath
• The Parson
• The Plowman
• The Miller
• The Manciple
• The Reeve
• The Summoner
• The Pardoner

Vocab #4

obsequious: characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning

beatitude: supreme blessedness; exalted happiness

bete noire: a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear

bode: to be an omen of; portend

dank: unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly

ecumenical: general; universal

fervid: heated or vehement in spirit, enthusiasm, et..

fetid: having an offensive odor; stinking

gargantuan: gigantic; enormous; colossal

heyday: the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime

incubus: an imaginary demon or evil spirit supposed to descend upon sleeping persons, especially one fabled to have sexual intercourse with women during their sleep

infrastructure: the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization

inveigle: to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements (usually followed by into)

kudos: honor; glory; acclaim

lagniappe: a small gift given with a purchase to a customer, by way of compliment or for good measure; bonus

prolix: extended to great, unnecessary or tedious length; long and wordy

protege: a person under the patronage, protection or care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare

prototype: the original or model on which something is based or formed

sycophant: a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite

tautology: needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in "widow woman"; an instance of such repetition

truckle: to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely(usually followed by to)