Chaucer
Comment on Chaucer's use of irony and humor in his introduction to the Prioress. "Chaucer criticizes the Prioress by praising her very faults." The Prioress' behavior was ironically superb. As a nun, she was expected to be modest and blend in, but she did not - she stood out, like a white rose in a field of daisies, and even though it was her own doing, it was not entirely her fault. The irony here is her paradoxically ladylike behavior, because she was a nun. Furthermore, being as she is, self-conscious and vain and with double standards about kindness, she is the PRIORESS, adds to the irony. Madam Eglantine, even in her name - which was commonly used as the fair lady, or damsel in distress in stories of courtly love - was a paradox, and THERE is the irony in her description. The Prioress is a nun who was once a lady and has not forgotten it. She behaves as a lady of the court would - weeping for pity for animals, to show the kindness of her heart. ...