‘And now, let’s talk of fun and stop all this.
Dear-Madam, as I hope for Heaven’s bliss,
Of one thing God has sent me plenteous grace,
For when I see the beauty of your face,
That scarlet loveliness about your eyes,
All thought of terror and confusion dies.
For it’s as certain as the Creed, I know,
Mulier est hominus confusio
(A Latin tag, dear Madam, meaning this:
“Woman is man’s delight and all his bliss”),
For when at night I feel your feathery side,
Although perforee I cannot take a ride
Because, alas, our perch was made too narrow,
Delight and solace fill me to the marrow
And I defy all visions and all dreams!
The Canterbury Tale: The Nun’s Priest Tale, page 223
Chanticleer, the rooster, let’s his sexual desires for his favorite wife, Pertelote, get in the way of him believing what his dream is trying to warn him of. He becomes blinded by her beauty that he can’t see the truth even after all of this going on and on about the reality of dream. This also shows what kind of sway his wife has over him by completely denying his whole belief about dreams to keep her at his side. She now knows that she can make him do whatever she wants him to do as long as she threatens him by saying she will leave him. Although this is a tale about animals, it can easily be connected to humans and how relationships are no so black and white and far more complicated.
