Mystery Plays

In fact, we can speak of mystery plays in the middle Ages;

they were based on the Bible and particularly concerned
with the stories of man’s Creation, Fall and Redemption.
The earliest dramatizations were presented on the greater
festivals: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Corpus Christi.
They were performed by clergymen and spoken in Latin.
Then, this drama moved from the church and became
“profane” (pro-fano: before the temple). From the
churchyard to the market place there were a few steps, the
market was the place where people sold goods, traded,
talked about their own lives and of course…gossiped!
The dramatizations became more and more elaborate as time went by. Later and as
plays became so popular they were taken to different towns, so they were mounted on
wagons on a curtained scaffold, the lower part of the wagon was a dressing room. Each
wagon would take a certain amount of actors who would perform one act of the play.
After one act had been performed, the wagon moved on to where another act had just
been acted, that is to say that the audience had to spend some time waiting for wagons
and actors! Plays were on religious topics and tried to represent from the Creation to
the last Judgment. Most of the plays were anonymous; at least we don’t know the
authors.
Mystery plays were widespread in Europe, and in France they were particularly popular.
The French preferred a more fixed setting; they used sedes or mansions (stages,
platforms or scaffoldings) which were set in two lines facing each other in the yard or
market place outside the west door of the church. Each sede represented a particular
place, like: Hell, Heaven, the Sepulcher, etc. So, this is how theatre began in Europe.
We will discuss this again and continue enlarging our knowledge on theatre when we
discuss Shakespeare.

The father of English literature

We have already established the origins of poetry in England. There is a very long
period that remains in blank in the literature of England. The invasion and conquest of
the English territory by the Normans in Hastings in 1066 caused this situation. The
language spoken by the higher social classes (the only ones who could read and write)
spoke French.
The thirteenth century marks a turning point in Literature because the poet and writer
Geoffrey Chaucer used English to write most of his works. That is why he is considered
the father of English literature
Let’s know something about him.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (1343-1400), one of the greatest English poets, whose masterpiece,
The Canterbury Tales, was one of the most important influences on the development of
English literature. His life is known primarily through records pertaining to his career as
a courtier and civil servant under the English kings Edward Ill and Richard II.
The son of a prosperous London wine merchant, Chaucer may have attended the Latin
grammar school of Saint Paul's Cathedral and may have studied law at the Inns of
Court. In 1357 he was page to the countess of Ulster, Elizabeth, the wife of Prince
Lionel, third son of Edward III; there, he would have learned the ways of the court and
the use of arms. About 1366 he married Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.
Chaucer served as controller of customs for London from 1374 to 1386 and clerk of the
king's works from 1389 to 1391, in which post he was responsible for maintenance of
royal buildings and parks. About 1386 Chaucer moved from London to a country
residence in Kent (probably Greenwich), where in 1386 he was justice of the peace and
representative to Parliament. He travelled on several diplomatic missions to France,
once to Spain in 1366 and twice to Italy from 1372 to 1373 and in 1378. After his death,
he was buried in Westminster Abbey (an honour for a commoner) in what has since
become the Poets' Corner. (Biography adapted from: Margaret Drabble “The Oxford
Companion to English Literature” OUP 1996)

(circa 1370)
The Tales is a collection of stories set within a framing story of a pilgrimage to
Canterbury Cathedral, the shrine of Saint Thomas a' Becket. The poet joins a band of
pilgrims, vividly described in the General Prologue, who assemble at the Tabard Inn
outside London for the journey to Canterbury. Ranging in status from a Knight

to a humble Plowman, they are a microcosm of 14th-

century English society.
The Host proposes a storytelling contest to pass the time; each of the 30 or so pilgrims
(the exact number is unclear) is to tell four tales on the round trip.

The tales represent nearly every variety of medieval stories at its best. The special
genius of Chaucer's work, however, lies in the dramatic interaction between the tales
and the framing story.
Significance:

Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended
the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters. He was the first English poet to use
iambic pentameter. (Iambic means that one unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed
one. Pentameter means that the stanza has five lines)

We are going to work with the prologue of “Canterbury Tales”, the stanzas that refer to
“The Nun”. You can download it at http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm . The
prologue of “The Nun” (The Prioress) starts in line 118 and finishes in line 162. You
can also download all the tales at the same site if you like (I advise you to use this site,
which is for students of literature and includes a Modern and middle English side by
side translation as well as a Middle English glossary, it is an old-fashioned page but
quite useful).
Remember: Go to the prologue and choose side by side version. Read the prologue of
The Nun (Prioress).

Before reading:
Now, write on a piece of paper all the words that you think are connected with the word
Nun.

While reading:
Note down all the words that are connected with the description of The Nun in
Chaucer’s prologue.

Glossary: (in case you do not want to click on the words highlighted in blue)
Coy: shy
Eglantyne: name fashionable in high society
Stratford-atte-Bowe: a convent near London
Smart: Suffer from wounds
Glaa-grey: Transparent
Span: about nine inches
Trinket: Ornament of little value
Whence: from what place
Gaudies: ornaments
Amor vincit ommia: love conquers all things

After reading:

Taking into account your notes in before reading with the ones in while reading, answer
the following questions:

How does Chaucer present the nun?

Do you think there is irony in the poem?

Irony
According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary irony is a technique of
indicating as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to
that which is actually or ostensibly stated.
In fact, by using irony in The Nun’s prologue, Chaucer can show the behaviour of the
people that belonged to the Church. We need to remember that in the Middle Ages,

religion and the Church were the centre of the period and could not be
criticized.
We can mention the lines on the nun’s attitude to dogs and insects as an example of her
attitude. Besides, she would give expensive food to her dogs, but giving food to the
poor was not in her habits.

Reflecting:
Now that you have seen how Chaucer used irony and how in fact the Nun behaved, you
should write some short commentary on her as a reflection on the character. Perhaps
these words can help you:

Kind, corrupt, pure, hypocritical, selfish, witty, observant, ugly,

honest, cynical, ostentatious, coward, , strong, dishonest,

brave, naive, modest, cruel.

Further Reading:

Now that we know what the technique of irony is, and what did Chaucer used it
for, we can look for more irony in other characters from the prologue. Read the
following characters in the prologue and explain how did Chaucer use irony in
their descriptions and what do you think he intended to show from society in the
Middle Ages.

- The Knight
- The Squire
- The Merchant
- The Wife of Bath