Essay Title - The use of Animals in Narrative texts
The use of animals in the narratives ‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ by Geoffrey Chaucer and ‘The Company of Wolves’ by Angela Carter allows the reader to further understand the meaning that the composer has created within the text. ‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ is an example of Chaucer testing the bounds of a beast fable genre. Beast fable is a tale where ‘animals are used as embodiments or caricatures of human virtues, vices, prudence’s, and follies ... and other typical qualities of mankind.’ (Coghill & Tolkien 12). ‘The Company of Wolves’ is the reconstruction of the folktale Little Red Riding Hood. The female character in the narrative ends up in the wolf's arms instead of his stomach contradictory to the fairy tale which challenges the narrative of masculine desire. With these examples we can clearly see the animal influence within these texts.
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author who wrote many works, he is best remembered for his frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. ‘‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ is a comedy reverberating with cosmic truth’ (Trevor Whittock 228). ‘The many styles of the poem are held together by the framework of a mock-heroic poem, but the poem’s intentions goes far beyond the small bounds of parody’ (Whittock 228). It is a part of The Cantebury Tales which tells a tale of a widow who had a small farm in which she kept animals, including a rooster named Chantecleer. Chantecleer had seven hens as his companions, the most honored of which was Pertelote. ‘Chantecleer does indeed represent abstarct ideas – and represents them in a way the is subtle, changing and often ironic – Chantecleer himself never becomes a mere abstraction. He is a very engaging creation in a very real world’ ( Stephen Coote 52). The idea of a rooster being able to hold such qualities those of human beings, reinforces Chaucer’s poem as a ‘particlar form of comic wisdom’ (Coote 33), through the use of barnyard animals. The poem begins with the romance between Chantecleer and Pertelote. Romance being a genre usually featuring noble knights and their ladies, evokes the comical view of such heroic traditions with the use of animals. ‘The courtly behavior and refined pretensions of Chauntecleer are constantly betrayed by the ludicrous activities and ignoble motives contingent upon chicken nature’ (Charles Owen 266). Chaucer by no means lets the reader forget that these animals are indeed animals - they peck, lay eggs etc, they are not born in a noble home, as knights or ladies. When the narrator is unable to regard these animals any right of humanly characteristics and are time after time turned back into their animal form, it becomes clear that those who are usually not part of a beast fable are indeed animals.
Chantecleer’s first introduction is that ‘In all the land, at crowing he’d no peer’ (Geoffrey Chaucer 203). In this context, the description of Chantecleer evokes humor at the heroic traditions of that time on two counts. One is that ‘crowing’ (203) is not a heroic form and secondly that it is not particularly surprising that he does it well seeing as though he is a rooster, and that it is naturally what they do. The rooster is then described from his ‘comb’ (203) right down to his ‘nails’ with the colours of flowers and jewels. This is very strange when it is applied to Chantecleer, as this method is usually employed when describing a beautiful woman. Ironically this description of Chantecleer fits perfectly, reminding us of the swaggering beauty of this animal. We, as a reader, ‘already smile at his pretensions and take a delight in the ease with which the narrator establishes his physical presence while at the same time making us realize that Chantecleer is an allegory of man’ (Coote 53). Followed by the introduction of Chantecleer, we are introduced to the other chickens in the run, Chantecleer’s ‘sisters and his mistresses’ (Chaucer 203), particularly Pertelote. We are told of Pertelote that, ‘She’d Chanticleer’s heart firm in her hold,/ Locked up with her, captive in every limb,/ He loved her so, that all was well with him.’ (Chaucer 203). ‘There is much fine comedy in the way Chaucer uses the language and concepts of high aristocratic life to describe these farmyard lovers.’ (Stephen Knight 68).
Although there is love between the two animals, it does not mean that they do not argue like ‘normal’ couples. A large section of the narrative is composed of a debate between Chantecleer and Pertelote on the subject of dreams which is brought up by Chantecleer’s terror at a dream. Pertelote begins by asserting that dreams are meaningless, ‘Nothing, God knows, but nonsense is in dreams’ (Chaucer 205) and so, Chantecleer should not be so fearful about his dream. Chantecleer then replies to Pertelote’s with a view of dreams ‘that they tell of future happenings’ (Chaucer 210). Chantecleer’s powerful rebuttal allowed him to win the debate. The debate comically demonstrates that well-read rhetorical debates are not acceptable, but are very powerful. Again, the use of animals to converse human issues is revealed within the narrative. By using such techniques, Chaucer allows the reader to understand such issues of human life through the simple yet twisted application of barnyard animals. But, despite having won the debate with all the correct logic by his side, Chantecleer fails to understand his dream correctly, and flies down from the safety of his beam, which allows for the confrontation with the fox. ‘But Chantecleer escapes. He turns on the fox by using his wits’ (Coote 79) and is eventually saved by the widow.
‘‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ thus raises the questions of human responsibility and destiny in the manner of tragedy or the moral romance but dismisses them, as a kind of impertinence, in favor of man’s ability from daily experiences, in the manner of an ironic comedy.’ (Paul Ruggiers 233-4). The irony comes from the use of animals, and the moral that is set within the narrative, which enables the reader to gain meaning and understanding of the contrast between animal and man.
The contrast between animal and man can also be seen in the narrative ‘The Company of Wolves’ by Angela Carter. ‘The Company of Wolves’ is the second of Carter’s narratives based on Red Riding Hood. The narrative is set up into two parts, one of which informs the reader of the folk tales of the wolf and werewolf. The second part which tells of Little Red a sweet young adolescent girl. Carter begins with the horrifying description of the wolf and his deeds. This animal and what he symbolizes is clearly an object of fear for the characters in the narrative. ‘The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he’s as cunning as he is ferocious; once he’s had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do’ (Angela Carter 110). By using intense descriptive language to portray the wolf and his character, Carter evokes in the audience the idea that this animal has tremendous power over all humans. The wolf holds so much power and fear that ‘The grave-eyed children…always carry knives with them when they go out’. ‘Their knives are half as big as they are, the blades are sharpened daily.’ (Carter 111). This fear is almost like paranoia, trapped inside the women and children, and the danger is exaggerated to enormous proportions. Carter has done this to guard them especially women from what the wolf really symbolizes; sexual danger, appetite and desire. This is something that women over the centuries have been protected against, but are beginning to emerge from it.
The wolf is a walking appetite and is not capable of restraining its desires. The wolves are describes as ‘mourning for their own, irremediable appetites’ (Carter 112), but salvation is not possible, because this desire and hunger cannot be controlled. In order for a wolf to transform, he first must get rid of all its outer layers and become pure and naked, ‘spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as is the Devil were after you’ (Carter 113). This image of a form of transformation from a naked man into a desiring beast is transparently sexual, and so suggests that naked men are to be dreaded and feared as if sexual yearning is beastly. This imagery, allows the reader to understand the gender issues concerned within the narrative and in society. Men are seen as sexual predators as compared to wolves and women are seen as innocent and virtuous compared to Little Red. This comparison is evident all throughout the narrative.
