Archetypes In 'The Nun's Priest'

Kelsey FishMs. SoardMarch 30, 2018English Literature Archetypes in The Nun’s PriestAn archetype the arrangement or astronomically understood the design that is present in literature all around the world. There are archetypal figures in life. They relapse and become familiar to people through all ages and nationality. Throughout history, few literary works have caught the audience's attention by absorbing these patterns. The patterns in Chaucer’s story told by the Nun’s Priest was not very clear but we’ll explained for who the characters really are.The Nun’s Priest tale contains many archetypes like the hero’s journey and light vs. dark. Chantecleer is the protagonist, he demonstrates a lighter appeal to the readers and is the good guy. Sir.

Russel, the antagonist that serves as the purpose of darkness is the villain that wants to stop the hero archetype from achieving his goal. The villain is the evil character, though there is often a reason for their hatred, the fox was just hungry. He used flattery to lour the rooster to a weak point but learned, “Lo, such it is not to be on your guard / Against the flatterers of the world.”(Chaucer 151). The villain wants nothing more than to have power over everyone like all of the barn animals because he took their leader, most of them are secretly motivated by fear. Russel is the foil of Chanticleer and will parallel the hero's main virtue. Like a snake or shark, the fox holds the characteristic of being a negative animal in Christianity. This complicated archetypal animal portrays a clever, sly, stealthy symbolisms of this animal. The fox once symbolized satan in early Christian legends. These same characteristics makes the fox the survivor of being shamefully judged for his existence in old stories. The little fox is a great
Fish 2character for this tale because of the way people see him.

So when he was told by Chanticleer that he should turn to boast to his pursuers, the rooster took his chance to escape the jaws of the fox. His lesson that he learned was was to not overestimate yourself even when you are successful at the time.The rooster, however, is seen as a prideful animal fanning out their colorful feathers with brilliance, and are supposed to be fearless. Chantecleer seems to take care of his clan but he is afraid, he is afraid of his upcoming death because of a dream he had. His favorite wife Pertelote became angry at this news that her husband is not fearless. But before this he tricked Pertelote by misinterpreting a Latin saying of women, to arouse her and boost his admiration in her eyes. I see Chanticleer as an everyman archetype because he is just a normal rooster, but is forced to face incredible teachings in his wrongdoings. He is just full of himself but learns his lesson about flattery, “... curses on us both, / And first on me if i were such a dunce / As let you fool me oftener than once.”(Chaucer 151) Chanticleer owns up to being fooled by the fox because of his flattery and gratified of his “amazing” singing talent and is the best thing ever, he wants to believe his voice makes the sun rise. The everyman can be the protagonist or the main figure to learn something from the story. Unlike the hero, the everyman does not have a task to be done, instead he just finds himself in

the middle of a conflict he barely had control over. He isn't trying to change something, he just wants to get through this situation. Being attacked by the fox and escaping is his only challenge, no trick or some kind of long story to be told. No journey was taken, he just learned his lesson and to stop being cocky and not care as much about others opinion and to not seek the desire to please others, it will only lead to trouble Pertelote would be considered an innocent archetype. Characters representing the innocent archetype are often women or children and are usually very pure. They are usually
Fish 3surrounded by evil people and has somehow stayed innocent and has not become bullied into being corrupted by the evil of others.

These type of characters aren't stupid, they're just so innocent that the evils of others and the world cannot seem to tarnish their spirits. Pertelote is not exactly completely innocent but she does nothing bad or harmful to others. The only wrongdoing is that she did not support her husband and telling him that dreams do not matter. She was angry at him because he was afraid of a dream. “... you may learn / One never should be careless about dreams / for undeniably, I say it seems / That many are a sign of trouble breeding.”(Chaucer 146). So you see, she is not perfect but no one is. “Courteous she was, discreet and debonair,/ Companionable too, and took such care/ In her deportment, since she was seven days old/ She held the heart of Chanticleer controlled/ Locked up securely in her every limb;/ O what a happiness his love to him!” (Chaucer 141). Pertelote says she is doing what is right for Chanticleer and thinking she is helping him, in reality she just wants to change who he is and be brave by disregarding his dream to be a better husband for her. The lesson she learned was that making people into what they are not, does not make things better even if is a flashy and attractive quality. She learned that fake virtues are more dangerous than a real person that has no virtues at all.Because of his prideful ways, he is tricked and learns

his lesson about pride the hard way. This is what divides the humans from animals, because Chanticleer, Pertelote and the Fox are close to being as human as the widow. The knowledge that the rooster and fox have learned from this acquaintance goes beyond common order of things into a “God's good” fairytale, where they learn some morals and no one gets hurt in the end. In the end of the Nun’s Priest tale, he states that everything written is for our "doctrine" learning, as in a church doctrine. The Canterbury Tales has a lot to do with religion and has broken pieces in each tale to learn a lesson. This
Fish 4connects with a destiny story, shown that all of the themes intertwine in this tale of tales. Mankind only, is compelled to the universes almighty plan and at fault for love and honor. Chanticleer feels overwhelmed that he has to do his job and crow every morning having submission over the farm.Work Cited
Fish 5"5 Common Character Archetypes in Literature." Scribendi, www.scribendi.com/advice/character_archetypes_in_literature.en.html. "what are the themes in the nun's priest's tale." Bookrags.com, Asked by Dellah, 6 Nov. 2009, www.bookrags.com/questions/english-and-literature/The_Canterbury_Tales/what-are-the-themes-in-the-nuns-priests-tale--82#gsc.tab=0.