Judith Character Traits

The female protagonist is a difficult character to create as well as execute. However, it has been done since about 1000 AD. There are six characteristics that make a strong female protagonist (Patterson). The first trait is having a goal that must be reached and that usually has grave consequences if not attained (Patterson). Second is that she is usually flawed; meaning she has to make choices and the lack thereof could potentially change the story (Patterson). Thirdly, she must capture the audiences’ attention by having a unique personality trait that makes her life-like to the reader (Patterson). Fourthly, she is a dynamic character; changing throughout the story discovering her strengths and weaknesses (Patterson). The fifth trait of
Yet, the story of Judith is only a part of the Hebrew bible and mentioned in the Catholic Old Testament. It is not recognized in Protestant Christianity, the religion that requires women to be subservient to the men in their lives; “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet (English Standard Version 1 Tim 2.11-12). One may deduce that as Christianity gained followers, women’s voices were heard less and
The story within The Canterbury Tales that is to be analyzed is “The Prioress’s Tale”. “The Prioress’s Tale” takes place in Asia, within a Christian town alongside a Ghetto full of Jewish people (Chaucer 170). The Prioress shows her Christian bias by depicting the Jews as “Hateful to Christ and all his company (Chaucer 171, line 5).” The tale is of a Christian boy raised by a widow to always kneel and say Hail Mary whenever he saw the image of the virgin mother (Chaucer 171, lines 18-21). Because the young boy was taught to hold such reverence for the Virgin Mary, when he learned that the song O Alma Redemptoris was in honor of her, he was determined to learn it by Christmas day (Chaucer 172, lines 44-53). The young boy practices the song every day and sings it walking by the Jewish Ghetto (Chaucer 172, lines 64-70). This angers some of them whom believe they should kill the child (Chaucer 173, lines 78-9). They hire a murderer to hide in the alley until the boy walks by in which the man slits the boy’s throat (Chaucer 173, lines 80-4). The boy’s mother, the widow, grows worrisome that her child had not returned home and goes out to find him at school but learns that he was last seen in the streets of the ghetto (Chaucer 173, lines 100-6). Once she arrives there, she questions the Jews about her son and soon comes to the ditch where her son was left for