The Characters in The Canterbury Tales Essay

To begin his tale, the Miller interjects after the Knight, interrupting the Monk. The Miller then apologizes in advance for what he is about to say; he is very drunk and may say some inappropriate things. After his short prologue, the Miller tells the story of a wild love affair between a woman named Alisoun and three men pining after her. The three men, Alisoun’s carpenter husband named John, a scholar name Nicholas, and a parish clerk called Absolon all take an almost obsessive interest in this eighteen-year-old woman. Although Alisoun is married to the carpenter, she quickly becomes secretly devoted to Nicholas after a short

Even though Miller makes assumptions in his writing, he does keep the reader’s attention with a face-paced tone and long sentences with similes. For example, when Miller says “The notion that the principal, or only, purpose of going to college is to win a ticket of admission to the great upper middle

2. Explain Miller’s use of comic relief at the beginning of this act. How is this scene ambiguous?

The poem, “The Miller’s Tale” by Chaucer, shows an interesting The poem, “The Miller’s Tale” by Chaucer, displays the themes of disloyalty and betrayal all the while showing humor. Chaucer associates a distinctive theme for each character in the tale to clearly portray them in order to help the reader better comprehend their role in the story. The tale is somewhat tragic yet humorous because many horrific things that happen to the characters that they did deserve. The story consists of two love triangles, in which Chaucer depicts each character’s role clearly by giving each character different types of personality. Chaucer depicts Nicholas as sly and very discreet, Alison as young, playful, attractive girl that loves showing off what she has, Carpenter as a stupid fool and old jealous husband, and lastly portrayed Absolon as very trim and proper. The characteristics of each character collide and disloyalty takes place which results in wounding people in different ways and all of them fittingly so except for Alison.

Not only is the summoner corrupt but he is sneaky and deceitful. These characteristics are reinforced over and over again. Chaucer uses his physical description and actions to reflect the low standards of life of the

The Miller falls into the Medieval Stereotype of the Peasantry which is that they are very lustful and also indulge into illegal activities such as theft. the Plowman’s demure is the exact opposite of the Miller however there is one character that resembles the Plowman the most and that is the Reeve. Similar to the Plowman, the Reeve is a hard worker, though not as honest in the work he does, is acumen for his job was to be feared further described as, “Feared like a plague he was, by those beneath” (pg 19). Still he is dishonest in his work, contrasting the Plowman, he had “A better hand at bargains than his lord, [...] (pg. 19).

Finally, one can assume that we meet people every day who may act like The Parson or The Miller. They could be a thief or a saint or somewhere in between. In fact, some people could have these traits in themselves as well, without even knowing. My family has told me they can even see some of The Parson and The Millers character traits in me. Nevertheless, people should never judge a book by their cover. In conclusion, the characteristics and traits of The Parson are some to be admired while The Millers are some to be scorned.

Miller skillfully was able to make characters which alone give subtle context to the surrounding society and culture. The overwhelming importance of image through physical appearance and materialization can be seen through the actions of his

Geoffrey Chaucer makes an interesting case in The Miller's Tale. He makes readers wonder if all the characters got what they deserved. Did John deserve to break both his arms and lose his wife? Did Nicholas deserve to get a blisstered bum? Did Absolon deserve to be farted on? He uses humor and lust to make a mockery of The Knight's Tale told before The Miller's Tale. A noble tale followed by a vulgar tale.

During the Middle Ages, a miller was generally a middle or low class man who owned or operated a wheat mill. The social rank of a miller could vary, as explained by Jeffery Singman and Will McLean in Daily Life in Chaucer’s England, “People’s positions in the hierarchy were considered to be of great importance, but sometimes the precise gradation weren’t entirely clear . . . However, it might be hard to tell whether the local miller was a more important man than the local smith” (9). Singman and Mclean are saying that one can not categorize a miller into a specific social class, but can generalize a miller in the low to middle class in

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories referring to a group of pilgrims on a journey to the Canterbury Cathedral. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author was born in the year of 1343 in the beautiful city of London, and later died on October 25th in 1400. Geoffrey began his adulthood fighting for england in the Hundred Years' War. After the war he pursued his passion in writing and English literature, beginning known as the “Father of English”. His favorite style was Vernacular Literature. He is also the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner.

Miller the tyrannical father of the Miller family, and is one of his precious items placed throughout the book. It represents how his focus can and will be on one thing at a time leaving out what is not deemed important by the dictator like man of the house. After years of making the trainset William ran out of something to focus on so he turned to his focuses to his work life rather than forming/reforming relationships with his family which has drifted from him and left him to be isolated, which led to him using his work as a distraction from his problems at home. After he began to work his way up in work he began to take on more work numbing himself to his family's problems that were forming as he isolated himself further, then when things at work began to go against him, and he was being used as a scapegoat for government check ins he attempted to reconnect with his family but failed as he was to distanced from them to know what or how to talk to

Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer introduces many pilgrims taking part in the journey to Canterbury; each has a different role and reputation. One of the pilgrims, the Miller, is introduced with a uniquely hostile tone. Unlike many others, the Miller does not have a good reputation with Chaucer. As the miller is described throughout the general prologue, Chaucer uses multiple different rhetorical devices to show his foul feelings towards the Miller. The Miller’s ugly appearance, stupidity, and bad moral standards are some of many reasons for Chaucer’s hostile opinion; however, it becomes clear that Chaucer does not like the Miller due to their conflicting upbringings and moral beliefs.

“The General Prologue,” is the first selection in the The Canterbury Tales. It introduces the Miller in third person limited; where the narrator describes his physical features. Straight away the narrator creates the Miller’s image as “a stout churl” (26). This short distasteful diction implies that he is a “rude, coarse man”(26). Moving forward through the text, Chaucer adds details to support his statement. Not only does the Miller contain poor qualities, the Miller is all around hard-featured. He is symbolic to a lumberjack, who is “big of brawn, “big of bone,” and “broad of build” (26). The Miller’s beard is “as any sow or fox,” red (26). This simile adds support to his features of a lumberjack because most lumberjacks contain thick colorful beards. There is a mention “of the ram” that he “never fail[s],” which adds context to the symbolization of a lumberjack because most mountain men have either rams or bullhorn sheep.

The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection of tales and prologues of stories told by many characters whilst on a pilgrimage to the city of Canterbury. From religious figures such as nuns, monks and pardoners; to doctors, cooks and millers, this pilgrimage embarked on by many interesting people with stories that range from inspiring to gruesome. A few of the most predominant stories include those of the Prioress, the Summoner, the Wife of Bath, the Miller, and the Reeve. In these tales, Chaucer uses motifs such as karma, greed, religion, and social division in attempts to tie together stories that are seemingly all unrelated. It is also clear after reading each tale that common human interactions stated in these stories,