Chaucer's Second Nun's Tale has direct relationships with various other texts. I realize this is somewhat a spoiler alert, but it reminded me a lot of The Prioress's Tale. Both have heavy theological themes to them, and also pit people of faith in a great struggle with another group of people. A key incident of violence also unites the two stories. Also crazy stuff happens. But more on that later. Personally, I really love how Chaucer inserts Urban as a character in the story. He isn't a high-ranking pope in this case, yet he is instrumental in the story since he baptizes Valerian.
Almachius is a fiendish character in this. Chaucer does a good job blending in the theology with another common medieval trope. You guessed it! There's misogyny in this story as well. The way Almachius treats Cecilia following the conversion of Tiburce and Valerian is straight up mean:
"Almachius, that herde of this doynge,
Bad fecchen Cecile, that he myghte hir see,
And alderfist, lo, this was his axynge:
'What maner womman artow?' tho quod he...
Ne takestow noon heede of my power?" (421-424, 434)
It's a striking indictment of Almachius's character that, instead of going directly after Valerian or Tiburce, he goes straight for Cecilia's throat (pun intended considering the ending). He unleashes his fury out on the woman first, considering her religious affiliation was the motivation for this supposed slight against him. The clash between paganism and Christianity is blatant in this tale. It mirrors the anti-Semitic undertones of The Prioress's Tale to a very faithful degree. I suspect that this and the Prioress's Tale were written soon after one another, considering their similarities. The death of Maximus was brutal to me, and it illustrated the now-horrifying notion of dying for something you believe in. Almachius is nothing short of a scoundrel. He is every Disney villain combined into one supreme force of malevolence. His wickedness leaps from the page and leaves its mark.
Cecilia is INVINCIBLE (sort of). Almachius wants her boiled alive? She survives! Then we get to the throat-cutting:
"Thre strokes in the nekke he smoot hir tho,
The tormentour, but for no maner chaunce
He myghte noght smyte al hir nekke atwo." (526-528).
The number three has blatant meanings in this. It is indicative of the Holy Trinity. Chaucer truly drives this point home when he writes that Cecilia miraculously survives for three days following her incident. Just like the boy in The Prioress's Tale, Cecilia survives despite this severe affliction. This is interesting, considering we just covered Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich and their treatises on the soul and body. This is without a doubt a miracle, but it is exemplified through this bodily wound. It's interesting that Cecilia can only truly display her power through this affliction.
RANDOM: One Saint Legend that resonated with me was Saint Agatha. This is why:
"He ordered her stretched on the rack and tortured, and Agatha said: 'These pains are my delight! It's as if I were hearing some good news, or seeing someone I had long wished to see, or had found a great treasure." (155). That's the pinnacle of optimism right there. It's also indicative of how many people thought pain connected them closer to Christ. Also her breast is cut off, and Agatha SCOLDS THE PEOPLE DOING IT: "Are you not ashamed to cut off from a woman that which your mother suckled you with?" (also 155). There's a lot to be said again about body/soul relationships via Agatha's ordeal.
One question I had: Is the Second Nun's Tale considered a miracle of the Virgin story? Upon investigation I found out it it's classified as a "Saint's Legend." However, saint's legends and miracle of the virgin stories are somewhat similar. But are they inseparable? Is it too much of a stretch to group the two together?
Slight mistake: Urban doesn't baptize him but he's still a key figure. My bad.
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ReplyDeleteWhile the story of St. Cecilia reminded you of St. Agatha, it triggered my memory from the story San Miniato whose relics are across the Arno in Florence. According to the legend, he was also a member of Roman society but decided to live a life with God and become a hermit. He was condemned to death for being a Christian but several of the Romans’ go-to execution methods didn’t work on him until finally they were able to chop his head off. Even then, he picked up his head, crossed the river, and continued living as a hermit until he died. In this example, I would suggest a comparison between St. Minias’ and John the Baptist, who is the patron saint of Florence.
ReplyDeleteIn the context of the Second Nun’s Tale, it seems that St. Cecilia’s ties to Mary are part of what saves her from being killed immediately. The language that Chaucer uses at the beginning of the poem during his invocation of Mary’s grace reflects later in Cecilia’s behavior. He writes, “Assembled is in thee magnificence/ With mercy, goodnesse, and with swich pitee/ That thou, that are the sonne of excellence… Er that men thyn help biseche,/ Thou goost biforn and art hir lyves leche” (50-52, 55-56). Although Cecilia and her husband consummate their marriage, Cecilia causes a ripple effect of conversions and she serves as a symbol of female purity. She also even has “an aungel which that loveth me,” (152), and wishes for her physical purity to reflect her spiritual devotion, “O Lord, my soule and eek my body gye/ unwemmed, lest that I confounded be,” (136-137). Although they don’t share the same fate in the end, Cecilia continues to promote the Christian message until she finally dies and becomes a martyr.
After some exhaustive Googling, Wikipedia-ing, and some more legit research, I found the same thing that you did, that this tale isn't really considered a "miracle of the Virgin" story. It's called a Hagiographical story (saints' lives/legends). At least it's kind of a cool word. I can really imagine St. Cecilia on the Sistine Chapel in her pot of boiling water with her head half chopped off from this tale. Anyway, what struck me from reading both the tale as well as the Nun's prologue was the focus of both characters. It was almost as if the Nun, by talking about St. Cecilia, was speaking of her own laser-like focus and devotion to God. What Chaucer does that is strange to me, is he gives the same focus to Almachius, the pagan. I think he is trying to make Almachius' pagan faith more like zealotry rather than a legitimate show of faith.
ReplyDelete"DO wey thy booldnesse," seyde Almachius tho,
"And sacrifice to oure goddes er thou go!
I recche nat what wrong that thou me profre,
For I kan suffre it as a philosophre;
But thilke wronges may I nat endure
That thou spekest of oure goddes heere," quod he. (487-493)
Chaucer allows Almachius to have his own defense of his own faith, but at the same time, takes whatever justification Almachius could have had away from him by his insistence on killing Cecilia (at which he fails).
These two "shows of faith" are startling in their contrast: on one hand, you have Cecilia and the two knights, who are killed defending and holding onto their Christian faith. On the other hand, you have Almachius, who is willing to do anything, including murder, to keep his faith strong.