Temporal and spiritual disjuncture in Chaucer's The Prioress's Tale

This article explores the temporal strangeness of Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale and its relationship to the tale’s wider spiritual and moral meaning. Following a recent revival of scholarly interest in medieval time, the article argues for an approach that moves beyond earlier research on The Prioress’s Tale, which has tended to concentrate on historicizing its anti-Semitism and the figure of the Prioress herself. It draws on Gillian Adler and Paul Strohm’s work on medieval ‘timescapes’ and Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject to analyse the role of Chaucer’s ‘litel clergeon’ as an uncanny, undead figure suspended in eschatological and temporal limbo. A close reading of the tale’s complex patterns of time reveals how its narrative timescape explores and sanctions its performance of both violence and salvation.