The Canterbury Tales · Chapter
The Prioress's Tale explained
The Prioress tells a tale of a young Christian boy murdered by Jews for singing a hymn to the Virgin Mary, whose miraculous continued singing leads to the discovery of his body and the punishment of the perpetrators.
What happens
The Prioress tells a tale of a young Christian boy murdered by Jews for singing a hymn to the Virgin Mary, whose miraculous continued singing leads to the discovery of his body and the punishment of the perpetrators.
Themes in this chapter
Corruption and Hypocrisy in the Church
The tale's anti-Semitic violence is presented as pious, highlighting the hypocrisy of religious devotion that leads to murder.
Sin and Redemption
The boy's martyrdom and miraculous singing represent redemption through faith, while the Jews' punishment underscores sin.
Characters to notice
- The Prioress
The teller of this tale, a nun who invokes the Virgin Mary and tells a miracle story.
Key passages
“O Lord, our Lord, how marvellous is thy name in all the world!”
The Prioress opens by praising God's name throughout the world.
Opening invocation of the tale.
“This little child, his little book learning, As he sat in the school at his primer, He Alma redemptoris heard sing, As children learned their antiphoner.”
A young boy hears the hymn 'Alma redemptoris' being sung and learns it by heart.
The boy's devotion to the Virgin Mary is established.
“The Jews, that are a cursed folk, have slain this innocent child, and have cast him into a privy.”
The Jews murder the boy and throw his body into a latrine.
The central act of violence in the tale.
“And ever he sang, O Alma redemptoris mater, So loud that all the place began to ring.”
Even after death, the boy continues to sing the hymn miraculously.
The miracle that leads to the discovery of the body.
“The provost did the Jews to be drawn and hanged, That of this murder knew, and that anon.”
The provost immediately has the guilty Jews executed by drawing and hanging.
The punishment of the perpetrators.