Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Reflecting the Storyteller (Canterbury Tales)

Better Essays
1226 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Reflecting the Storyteller (Canterbury Tales)
Sam Nelson
Fr. Fitzgibbons
English 190
10/28/04
Reflecting the Storyteller It is said that people often look like their pets. Geoffrey Chaucer plays off this idea with his literary work, The Canterbury Tales, by making the character 's story reflect upon the character him or herself. The description of a character is a sort of foreshadowing of what kind of tale he or she will tell. The stories are written so that the content and the style both relate to the storyteller 's character. The Miller, a rough and rude man, demonstrates Chaucer 's technique when he tells a tale of crude subject. "The Pardoner 's Tale" demonstrates this as well. He is a sly and cunning man, one who is good at deceiving for gain. His tale preaches against the very sin that he commits, as to attain his own goal. Each storyteller projects a part of his or her character into the story that he or she tells. Chaucer 's description of the Miller is one that would most likely drive most women away, for he is described as a very strong and masculine man with immoral traits and a rude, obnoxious demeanor. Chaucer writes that the Miller is "As tough a yokel as you care to meet / The Miller was. His big-beefed arms and thighs / Took many a ram put up as wrestling prize" (The Miller 's Tale, lines 532-534). Chaucer comments on the Miller 's moral character, or rather his immoral character, several times, such as when he mentions that "He was a thick, squat-shouldered lump of sins" (The Miller 's Tale, line 535). Again, the Miller 's character is described as being immoral when Chaucer says, "He could steal corn and charge for it three times" (The Miller 's Tale, line 546). Chaucer goes on and makes the Miller to come across as a rude and loud. "His mouth would open out / Like a great furnace, and he would sing and shout / His ballads and jokes of harlotries and crimes" (The Miller 's Tale, 543-545). "The Miller 's Tale" is one of taboo topics: adultery, and defamation of character. " 'The Miller 's Tale ' is a gross parody of the Knight 's moralistic story, bringing the tale down to lower orders and stripping it of the honor and chivalry that marked the Knight 's story" (Ross 3). Even before the Miller begins his story, the others are asking him to not tell it, due to its crude content. "For I 'll tell a golden legend and a life Both of a carpenter and his wife, How a student put horns on the fellow 's head." "Shut up and stop your racket," the Reeve said. "Forget your ignorant drunken bawdiness. It is a sin and a great foolishness To injure any man by defamation And to give women such a reputation." (The Miller 's Tale, lines 31-38)
Even the narrator gives fair warning of "The Miller 's Tale", by saying he wishes that he did not have to write it down, but does because he feels he must. The tale itself reflects upon the Miller 's crude character when it uses humor. "The Miller 's Tale" is littered with crude humor, violence, and lust. To reflect the Miller 's own crude nature, he threw off-color humor into his story, such as, "Should he give his ass a smack; and hastily / He opened the window, and thrust out quietly, / Buttocks and haunches, all the way, his bum" (The Miller 's Tale, lines 579-581). Even the choices of words the Miller uses shows his obscene and crude mannerisms. "The Miller 's language reflects his offensive and immoral behaviors" (Benson 16), such as "ass" and "piss." The usage of these words is still considered rude and explicative by today 's standards. Due to the more rigid social standards of the old world, the Miller would only be perceived as even more crude of a character. In an analysis of "The Miller 's Tale", Jeremy Ross mentions that, "The Miller 's tale thus prizes the characters who are the most shrewd rather than those who hold more sentimental emotions or obey traditional standards of behavior" (Ross 2). Chaucer 's portrayal of the Pardoner also shows how character reflects the story. Chaucer describes the pardoner 's physicality by pointing out his deformities, especially when Chaucer writes, "I think he was a gelding or a mare (The Pardoner 's Tale, line 673)." Chaucer also describes the Pardoner as a deceiver and writes about his methods of deception. The Pardoner carries with him several items that he passes off as holy relics. The Pardoner essentially comes right out and says he is a scam artist: They may not make an offering in that case To these my relics; they have no power nor grace. By such hornswoggling I 've won, year by year, A hundred marks since being a pardoner. I stand in my pulpit like a true divine, And when the people sit I preach my line To ignorant souls, as you have heard before And tell skullduggeries by the hundred more. (The Pardoner 's Tale, lines 56-57, 61-66)
The Pardoner takes pride in his ability to deceive and profit from it. He says exactly what he needs to so he can get a specific response from his listeners. He puts on a charade, and plays it well, with no intention to actually pardon people from sin. In an analysis of "The Pardoner 's Tale", Jeremy Ross says that, "He states explicitly that his goal is not to save people from sin, but to gain money from them. The Pardoner says that he will not imitate the apostles in their poverty, but will have food, comfort, and a wench in every town" (Ross 2). In "The Pardoner 's Tale", he preaches about how money is the root of all evil. He tells this tale to aid his goals of false pardoning. Ross says, " 'The Pardoner 's Tale ' is a direct extension of the personality of the narrator, an overtly moralistic tale that serves primarily to elicit a specific response" (Ross 2). This response is one that will allow the Pardoner to profit off of his deceived "flock." "The Pardoner 's Tale" is just another of his deceptive stories for the "ignorant souls." He preaches against what it is he is actually doing. Ross sums up the Pardoner 's character nicely when he writes, "The Pardoner is not a moral man, but he nevertheless has a moral system to which he most certainly does not adhere" (Ross 1). Chaucer 's method of foreshadowing the story-type by relating a person 's character to their story is a way to allow a reader to make a more personal connection to the story. With a background of its storyteller, a person can read into the text a lot more clearly, finding certain flairs of personality with each story.

Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffry. The Canterbury Tales (1380). Rpt. In The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 1997. 1165-1217.
Benson, Larry D. The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd ed. Boston: 1987. 3-22
Ross, Jeremy. "The Pardoner 's Tale." ClassicNotes. (2000). 24 Oct. 2004. .
Ross, Jeremy. "The Miller 's Tale." ClassicNotes. (2000). 24 Oct. 2004. .

Cited: Chaucer, Geoffry. The Canterbury Tales (1380). Rpt. In The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 1997. 1165-1217. Benson, Larry D. The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd ed. Boston: 1987. 3-22 Ross, Jeremy. "The Pardoner 's Tale." ClassicNotes. (2000). 24 Oct. 2004. . Ross, Jeremy. "The Miller 's Tale." ClassicNotes. (2000). 24 Oct. 2004. .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    story about an individual who had a vision in a dream and the dream came true.…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. participated in government in Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other nations…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Reeve 's Tale" dealt with a sinister Miller named Simpkin, who stole wheat and corn. The narrator explains, "He was a thief as well of corn and meal, and sly at that; his habit was to steal" (109). Simpkin is a notorious brute who is married to a daughter of a parson. They have a 20 year old daughter named Molly and an infant. The Miller planned to steal meal from the two students, Alan and John. Knowing of the Miller 's trick, they planned to take revenge by fornicating with the Miller 's daughter and wife. The Miller 's Tale is different in the sense that the narrator speaks of an old carpenter as being gullible and unaware of his surroundings. The Miller marries a young woman, who ends up being seduced by a young man named Nicholas. The narrator explains, "Now, gentlemen, this gallant Nicholas one day began to romp and make a pass at this young woman, in a mood of play, her husband being out, down Osney way. Students are sly, and giving way to whim he made a grab a caught her by the quim" (91). "The Miller 's Tale" is not as vulgar and sexually crude as "The Reeve 's Tale." The two tales differ because the carpenter tells a sinister story of treachery whereas the miller tells a tale more concentrated on slapstick comedy. Despite certain differences between the fabliaux, both tales share common characteristics. Both "The Reeve 's Tale" and "The Miller…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I will be talking about who I think the most despicable character is and what the larger message or theme that Miller is sending through the character. In The Crucible I believe that Abigail is the most despicable character. From the very beginning of the story Abigail was lying to Parris about what the girls were doing in the woods. Her lying in the beginning wasn’t setting herself up to be a very good person. Abigail then tells Hale that she has compacted with the Devil, but wants to be saved.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Miller’s tale played as a fabliaux, in the sense that as it deals with adultery and with bawdy wordplay leading up to the tale’s bittersweet conclusion. As well as the Miller’s Tale being exemplar because of the way equal control of marriage was related to both tales of rape, The Wife of Bath and The Reeves’s Tale. In the Miller’s Tale, Chaucer gives his reader a hypothetical replacement to the disapproving views on sexuality by the Church. In the likeness of a peasant, Chaucer presents a freer, more innocent, portrait of the character Allison of Oxenford. Through her characterization Chaucer portrays the image of sexual nature, and only in this tale the nature maintains by a character. Since her sexual nature defies sexual restrictions imposed by the Church while at the same time creating its own meaning to love, I feel like she placed her love over her religion. Chaucer simply wanted to express through the Miller that the “common man” could tell a tale that others within the audience at that time…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hilarious Flaws

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” celebrates and satires humanity, especially the “everyman”, in his story he included to characters in particular, one representing the best of humanity and the other illustrating the worst. Chaucer practically idolizes the Knight, who represents everything us humans aspire to be. “He was of sovereign value in all eyes. And though so much distinguished, he was wise and in his bearing modest as a maid. He never yet a boorish thing had said in all his life to any, come what might; he was a true, perfect gentle-knight.” (Chaucer 69-74) Chaucer says that though the knight had been through so many brave and amazing situations, from Alexandria to Prussia, fought against the Turks, and in Granada, he had never once been over confident; he remained as modest as one could be. The Knight symbolizes everything good in a human, Chaucer does not satire him at all; however, it is the complete opposite with the Pardoner. The Pardoner symbolizes the lowest a man could get, he cheats, he steals,…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, is known as the father of English literature. Throughout his prologue of The Canterbury Tales, he introduces many characters, and among these many characters is the Skipper. Although Chaucer doesn't give readers a long descriptive passage of the Skipper, one can conclude a lot about him from the passage. Through diction, syntax, and characterization, Chaucer is able to portray a certain personality to each character he is describing; in this case, he is able to show his character's aspects in a couplet, or 2 lines: “He'd drawn at Bordeaux, while the trader snored,/ The nicer rules of conscience he ignored.” (Lines 407-408)…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allusions In The Crucible

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Miller blends dramatic dialogue, ethos and allegorical allusions together in Act four of the Crucible in order to show the difficulty that people associate with making decisions that may infringe upon moral standards. He shows it is unjust to force someone to make that choice, especially when their life is dependent on the…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    crucible Outline

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Quote 2: She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-” (Miller 24)…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When Texas was a republic, most of the Africans who lived there were slaves. This is ironic because the reason why most Africans came to Texas was to be free, but in the 1860’s, there were not a lot of free Africans. The reason being is that in 1840, the Texas government passed a law that said free Africans had to leave Texas in two years or they will become enslaved again. However, some free African Americans won government permission to remain in Texas. This law is what caused the number of free Africans to go down. Even before the law, the citizen rights of the free Africans were shortened.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the story of The Canterbury Tales, many vices and virtues were displayed. More specifically, The Pardoner’s Tale, The Dynamic Culture of the Middle Ages, and A Distant Mirror, held a very common theme that current times share, Greed. There are many instances in these tale that demonstrate the true greed humans can feel.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Eds. Kylene Beers and Lee Odell. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007.…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, many characters go on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. On the way to Canterbury, each person on the journey tells a tale. Whoever tells the best story, gets rewarded a lavish free meal. The pilgrimage includes people from the nobility, clergy, and commoner class. For each class, Chaucer develops many different character types that were representative of the society of the time. With a broad spectrum of people and action, The Canterbury tales consists of many different ideas such as social satire, courtly love/ chivalry,morality, and corruption and deceit. One of the most important ideas of the story is that Chaucer puts forward a criteria that…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, felt that the Church's turmoil experienced during the fourteenth century contributed to the a declining trust of clergy and left the people spiritually devastated. The repeated epidemics that the European Church experienced weakened the church by highlighting the clergy's inability to face adversity. The clergy's inability to provide relief for the people during a period of suffering did not turn people away from the church, but it did cause the people to question the value of the Church's traditional practices. People looked for ways to gain greater control over their own spiritual destines and altered their perception of the clergy, who were too weak to bring the people complete salvation. (Bisson51-52) "The times are out of joint, the light of faith grows dim; the clergy are mostly ignorant, quarrelsome, idle, and unchaste, and the prelates do not correct them because they themselves are no better." (Coulton 296) In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer makes us highly aware of the clergy's obvious and hidden intensions. Chaucer shows his awareness of the shortcomings of the Church in his portrayal of those who exercise spiritual authority during the pilgrimage. (Bisson 51-52)…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. 2012. McDougal Littell: National Literature Grade 11. N.p.: n.p., 1953. 132-208. Print.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics