The Mouth of the Fox (Chaucer)
... on mass days, which in church begins to play; more regular was his crowing in his lodge than is a clock” (Lines 31 - 34). Chauntecleer is obviously proud of this. When the fox shows up in the barnyard, after Chauntecleer dreamed the night before of a hound who attempted to kill him, he has only to ask to hear Chauntecleer’s magnificent call, and Chauntecleer is proud to oblige. As soon as Chauntecleer stretches out his neck as far as he can to begin his famous scream, Russel snatches him into his mouth and slinks away. Some critics even believe that this situation could be considered a metaphor for how the devil cunningly persuades people to into pride so that he can snatch them into sin. Other critics suggest that a sin other than pride lies behind this incident. After Chauntecleer woke from his dream, he told his beloved Pertelote about it, and they proceeded to dispute the significance of dreams. Pertelote put her dear Chauntecleer to rest by sleeping with him somewhere around 20 times. Some believe that these sexual indulgences blinded Chauntecleer to the presence of the fox and kept him from realizing the connection between the hound of his dream and the fox in the yard. Although this is a difficult interpretation for some people, these theories are more obvious interpretations when one considers that the fable is told by a priest. Another line of the passage that holds significance is when Chauntecleer “held his eyes closed” while crowing. This line emphasizes how much sin, whe...