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The Millers Tale And The Reeve's Tale Analysis

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“The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale,” two of the many stories in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, portray many similarities on the views of love, marriage, and immorality. Both “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” portray what love truly means to the Miller and the Reeve. Chaucer’s two tales also exemplify the unfaithfulness of the wives to their vows of marriage. Additionally, the stories share corresponding similarities in the many instances of dishonesty and immoral features of the male characters. Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates to the reader the true characteristics of the Miller and the Reeve by using the aspect of morality to show their related views on love and women. Love, to both the Miller and the Reeve, is frequently associated with beauty, lust, and sexual intercourse. Their vision of love is consistent in both stories; indicating that they care mostly about the women’s physical appearances. This can be easily seen in the stories by the way that the women are described and portrayed. Neither of Chaucer’s story tellers offer much insight into the women’s intelligence or mental characteristics. In “The Miller’s Tale,” the Miller writes, “Fair was this yonge wyf, and therwithal as any wesele hir body gent and small” (line 3233), and likewise in “The Reeve’s Tale” when the Reeve notes, “With buttokes brode and brestes rounde and hye” (line 3975). The understandings of love to both the Miller and the Reeve resemble each other

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