Summary and Analysis of The Second Nuns Tale :: Canterbury Tales The Second Nuns Tale Essays

Summary and Analysis of The Second Nun's Tale (The Canterbury Tales) Prologue to the Second Nun's Tale: The Host praises the Nun's Priest for his tale, but notes that, if the Nun's Priest were not in the clergy he would be a lewd man. He says that the Nun's Priest, a muscular man with a hawk's fierceness in his eye, would have trouble fending off women, if not for his profession. The Second Nun prepares to tell the next tale, warning against sin and idleness. She says that she will tell the tale of the noble maid Cecilia. Analysis The Host's description of the Nun's Priest highlights the disparity between traditional conceptions of the clergy and their actual roles and personalities. The Nun's Priest is, as dictated by his profession, celibate, but the Host serves to remind the reader of his sexual persona. The Second Nun's Tale: Saint Cecilia was by birth a Roman and tutored in the ways of Christ. She dreaded the day in which she must marry and give up her virginity. However, she came to be engaged to Valerian. On the day of their wedding she wore a hairshirt, praying to God to remain unspoiled. On their wedding night she told a secret to Valerian: she had an angel lover who, if he believes that Valerian touches her vulgarly, will slay him. He asks to see this angel, and she tells him to go to the Via Appia and find Pope Urban among the poor people. Once Urban purges him of his sins, Valerian will be able to see the angel. When he reached Via Appia, Urban suddenly appeared to Valerian and read from the Bible. He baptized Valerian and sent him back home, where he found the angel with Cecilia. He has brought a crown of flowers from Paradise that will never wilt, and gives it to Cecilia. The angel claims that only the pure and chaste shall be able to see this crown. Cecilia asks for the angel to bless her broth er and make him pure. This brother, Tibertius, enters and can detect the flowers. The angel gives crowns to Valerian and Tibertius, and advises Tibertius to give up false idols. They plan to visit Pope Urban, and Tibertius asks Cecilia how she can worship three gods. She says that each divinity represents part of God. But after both Valerian and Tibertius were christened, Roman sergeants brought them to Almachius the prefect, who ordered their death.