In The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer, the behavior of the prioress can be interpreted as part of the change occurring within religious institutions, which were evolving to allow freedom of thought and individual freedom. choice, as the nun does when she allows herself to personalize her beautiful habit by wearing it with pearls and a gold brooch. The nun is one of the first characters to be given a name and, as such, is identified as an individual and not just a nun. The nun's deviation from expected behavior and norms can therefore be seen as a positive trait that Chaucer praises as women become more independent and redefine their own roles in society. Excessive euphemism, negative imagery, and refined diction, however, satirize the nun's unwarranted care for her appearance as well as her superficial view of piety. The corruption and hypocrisy of religious institutions and the aristocracy are highlighted by the nun's lack of true religious devotion and her effort to gain respect by imitating court manners. The prioress represents the decline of morality and devotion in the monasteries and convents of the Middle Ages, and is an embodiment of the vice present within the nobility. Although the narrator praises the fine etiquette and manners that the nun practices, the praise inadvertently allows the reader to imagine the nun as monstrous and grotesque. The narrator's passing remarks about her actions help reveal the nun's underlying cruelty. Because the narrator fails to notice the corrupt nature of the prioress, the narrator is associated with superficiality as he focuses on people's appearances and fails to understand the flaws in their actions. ....the nun's appearance as being "nat undergrown" (156), and praises her figure, while undermining the cause of such a figure, which is said to be due to excess food. The narrator focuses on her appearance, describing her well-shaped nose, her glass eyes and her small red lips, which give the prioress the image of a shy young lady, as this description of the prioress is followed by a narrative detailed in his manners. and his actions, the beautiful image that would have been formed initially is undermined and instead readers are able to see his true self, who has a monstrous soul twisted by corruption and deception. Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. “From The Canterbury Tales The General Prologue.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature The Middle Ages. By Stephen Greenblatt. Ninth ed. Flight. A. New York: WW Norton, 2012. 246-47. Print.