The Second Nun's Stand

Like Jason and Euge, I think that many of the discussions of the second nun in class deserve further comment. Because I completely missed the references to idleness in the tale, I reread it knowing to look for warnings against idleness in the praise of its opposite: business, activity, agency. Another topic we addressed in the class discussion was, for lack of a better term, exactly “how much” agency Cecile exhibited. Jason mentions in his post below, and I agree, that she may have acted less defiantly if she were not certain of the eventual affirmation of her faith. In class, someone else recommended Cecile as a foil of Custance. Which female lead commands more respect at the end of the tale? Which is more memorable? The Man of Lawe idealizes Custance in a very different but equally passionate manner, but the reverence of the nun to the saint recommends Christianity in a way, I argue, unseen so far in the Tales. The prominent position of this hitherto ignored nun’s tale is one of the first things I noticed when reading the tale. Thematically, it recalls other tales. Chaucer wrote other tales of religion in rime royal. Why another tale of the same sort? Knowing, at this point, Chaucer’s tendency for layered menaings, we must search further.

First, the tale provides another warning against sin and recommendation to virtue. Second, Cecile is another female fated to die at the hands of unworthy men, as so she joins the other active and passive heroines as a proponent of woman and her rights. Third, at the end of the tale it’s hard not to be inspired. Whatever one’s personal leanings, Cecile trusts and never wavers, while representing herself as a woman who acts of her own accord and without fear of consequences.

To idleness and Cecile the “bisy bee”. The notes at the back of Benson’s edition of the Tales mention the first 28 lines only to say that they are “conventional and may be based on a variety of sources” (462). This warning against idleness could be directed at Christians who maybe are not as strong or as dedicated in their faith as they should be… but why would the nun direct this warning at those voyaging to a cathedral? Unless, perhaps the nun, having listened to the bawdy fabliaux and the tiresome exempla throughout the tales, as well as many tales dealing with very earthly vices, she has concluded that what the pilgrimage truly needs is a reminder of God’s greatness and the power he bestows upon those that blindly trust Him. This also serves as a response to Euge's post below: perhaps the tale is situated so close to their destination to remind both the pilgrims and the readers of the true purpose of their pilgrimage.