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Geschke/British Literature The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Miller

The Manciple

The Reeve


The Miller


The Miller

• Characterization– Diction

• “The Miller was a chap of sixteen stone,/ A great stout fellow big in brawn and bone.” (547-548)– A stone is 14 pounds– The Miller weighs around 225 pounds– Big man


The Miller

• Animal Imagery– Ram– Sow– Fox

• The Miller is strong like an animal• The Miller has animal passions


The Miller

• “And, at its very tip, his nose displayedA wart on which there stood a tuft of

hair Red as the bristles in an old sow’s ear. His nostrils were as black as they were

wide.”(554-557)

– Not an attractive man


The Miller

• “His mighty mouth was like a furnace door.” (561)

– A furnace door mouth symbolizes the mouth of hell


The Miller

• “His was a master-hand at stealing grain.He felt it with his thumb and thus he

knewIts quality and took three times his

due” (564-566)– Cheats his customers

• Puts thumb on the scale when weighing grain


The Miller

• Purpose of the Diction– paints the Miller in a negative light– he is dishonest


The Miller

• Our Reaction to the Miller– We do not like him– We do not trust him– We are intimidated by his size


The Manciple


The Manciple


• “Now isn’t it a marvel of God’s graceThat an illiterate fellow can

outpace The wisdom of a heap of learned men?”

(576-579)


The Manciple

• Satire – Miracle

• usually references an act of God, but in this case no divine intervention is necessary to explain his behavior

– Illiterate fellow• mocks the intelligence of the Manciple


The Manciple

• “And yet this Manciple could wipe their eye.” (590)

– “wipe their eye”• A British expression for getting the better

of someone


The Manciple

• Purpose of Diction– Demonstrates that the Manciple is not smart


The Manciple

• Our Reaction to the Manciple– Not a severe reaction– We laugh at him– Not much of an opinion– Relatively forgettable character


The Reeve


The Reeve• “No auditor could gain a point on him.

And he could judge by watching drought and rainThe yield he might expect for seed and grain.His master’s sheep, his animals and hens,Pigs, horses, dairies, stores and cattle-pensWere wholly trusted to his government.And he was under contract to presentThe accounts, right from his master’s earliest years.No one had ever caught him in arrears.No bailiff, serf or herdsman dared to kick,He knew their dodges, knew their every trick;Feared like the plague he was, by those beneath.”

(588-609)


The Reeve

• Frugal

• Manages the estate very well

• No one dares to cheat him

• He is skimming a profit for himself– Arrears

• Debts that are unpaid or overdue– Never caught


The Reeve

• “A better hand at bargains than his lord,He had grown rich and had a store of

treasureWell tucked away, yet out it came to

pleasureHis lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods,To earn his thanks and even coats and

hoods.”(612-616)

– The Reeve has grown rich through sharp dealing and theft


The Reeve

• “He rode the hindmost of our cavalcade.” (626)

– The Reeve rides his horse behind everyone on their journey to Canterbury

• Why?– He can keep a sharp eye on everyone

else to make sure they don’t cheat– No one can watch him, so he can cheat


The Reeve

• Purpose of the Diction– Presents the Reeve as an intimidating

person– Presents the Reeve as an immoral and

unethical person


The Reeve

• Our Reaction to the Reeve– We do not like him– We do not trust him– We might be intimidated by him

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