Second Nun's Tale Analysis.

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-This tale is introduced with no real link to the rest of the tales, and has completely no connection with the general scheme of the tales.
-The intent of this tale is for the second nun to save us, the audience, from the confusion (sin) that comes about when we are trapped in a situation of idleness.
-Chaucer is saying that he prefers good works to the idleness of the “contemplative life.”
-The nun would have been expected to tell the story of a saint’s life, just as the knight would have been expected to tell a tale of chivalry and adventure.
-This tale is a conventional religious biography of Saint Cecelia, “lily” “light” “heaven.” Her name also comes from Dante’s Leah, who represents business and an active life. Cecelia is also related to the medieval Philosopher’s stone, a stone that in alchemy can turn base metals into precious metals, a metaphor for the purification of the soul.
-The story is told in a very dry and simplistic way, which you would expect from a nun. The characters are one dimensional, with the exception of Cecelia, who is developed through her faith in god, and also through her hatred of sexuality.
-There are many ideas of religion in this story, obviously because it is being told by a nun. It tells about Roman persecution of Christians, miracles like Cecelia not being able to be killed, and the introduction of the idea of the Holy Trinity.
-Cecelia’s brother, Tibertius, claims that this idea of the Trinity is in fact “worshipping false gods,” but Cecelia claims that it is the same as worshipping the same person.
-What was interesting was that the name of the prefect who condemns Tibertius and Valerian to death is given a Saracen, Muslim name, and insists that they sacrifice to the “image of Jupiter.”
-Anthropologists and Sociologists relate Cecelia’s standing up to Alchemius, her accuser, to historical figures such as Christ before Pilate, Joan of Arc in Shaw’s play Saint Joan, Ghandi on trial before the British Raj, and Rose Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus. From this they say “It only takes one dissident to call into question all that is illusion.”

Influences:
-There is the biblical reference of the story of Mary Magdalene and her sister Mary with the Second Nun and the Prioress. Magdalene was the contemplative one (Prioress), and Martha was active (Second Nun). The Second Nun rebels against the Prioress in this way, whom she serves.
-There are references to Roman de la Rose, a medieval French poem that was a allegoric poem of chivalric love, with the figure of Idleness, and the suggestion that we must overthrow Idleness with Business.
-Chaucer also directly takes lines from Dante’s Purgatorio.
-The Second Nun is said to have come from the Golden Legend, a collection of “hagiographies,” or lives of the saints, which became a medieval best seller. There is said to be a connection drawn between the Prioress, the Wife of Bath and the Second Nun. The Wife tells a pagan tale, about magic and marriage, while the Wife and the Second Nun tell stories that are Christian. The Second Nun is still the best ones out of them all, however, and she is the only one who remains untainted and untempted by sex.
-To put the story in a modern context, this story of Saint Cecelia led to the forming of a cult commonly known today as the Cult of the Virgin Mary, which honors chastity and virginity. They held virgins in the highest esteem, and thought that the woman’s body should be preserved in the highest manner. It is said that today, Cecelia’s body is completely preserved, and when you look at her body she looks as though she hasn’t decayed at all, as if she’s sleeping.