Chaucer's Nun vs. Shakespeare's Hermia

     Of the many colorful characters described in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the one that draws my attention the most is the Nonne (nun).  Among the many members of the pilgrimage who belong to the clergy, she may be the one who defies the expected behavior the most.  Members of the clergy take a vow of poverty, and she does not behave as someone who has done so.  She is described wearing a cloak that is “most elegant,” as well as “A brooch of shining gold; inscribed thereon/Was, first of all, a crowned ‘A,’/And under, Amor vincit omnia.”(160-162) The quality of her clothing would imply that she is not taking her vow of poverty very seriously, and while the quote, “amor vincit omnia” (love conquers all) could easily be referring to a love for the church or God, it seems unlikely, and in that case highly inappropriate that a woman who has sworn herself to God would have something like that engraved on a gold brooch, or that she would even be wearing a golden brooch at all.  In addition to her attire contradicting everything that she should stand for, she is described as exhibiting “courtly” behavior, which implies that she spends far more time practicing such behavior than she would in prayer.

            A reader might wonder why a woman who holds such value in etiquette and courtly behavior would ever join the church.  I myself have to wonder if she was sent to join the church not by choice, but   In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Egeus, father to Hermia, threatens to either impose the death sentence on Hermia if she does not marry Demetrius, or send her to a convent.  Is the nun in the Canterbury tales simply someone like Hermia who was not fortunate enough to escape her family’s wishes?  This theory could explain why she behaves as a young lady at court should, or why she wears the brooch with the love quote inscription.