David Scott-Macnab. “‘Of Prikyng and of Huntyng for the Hare’: General Prologue to ‘The Canterbury Tales’, I 191.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 104, no. 3, University of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 373–84.
Scott-Macnab argues that the term “prikyng,” in relation to its description to the Monk (in the General Prologue), is meant to be a double entendre and therefore evokes inappropriate sexual connotations towards him. He argues that this is supported by the other sexually charged language utilized when describing the Monk. Scott-Macnab writes, “Chaucer undoubtedly provides some strong hints of illicit sexual appetite” [in relation to the Monk] (376). This, teamed with the use of “prikyng” as a hunting term forms the double entendre. Scott-Macnab also argues that the hunting references are often inaccurate, citing examples such as the Monk riding at a gallop when this would be much too fast to track and hunt hares (383). If the hunting is not made to be taken literally, it must serve as the sexual metaphor.
-Lauren Olson
