ipl-logo

What Is The Purpose Of The Miller's Tale

918 Words4 Pages

The Miller’s Tale
Authors Note: The purpose for this project is to explore the Canterbury Tales we’ve read in class, specifically the Miller’s tale that was originally printed in Old English. It is the intention of this speaker to explain the main plot points and themes and to modernize it for today’s youth understanding.

The Canterbury tales date back to 1387 and may be one of the world’s first and best examples of band camp story sharing. A pilgrimage to a town rather than a march to the area’s best half time show is the commonly shared journey but like band camp, there are several different characters present and accounted for. Chaucer highlights social ranking as a running theme in his writing and social rank as we know it today might best be connected to a high school setting. …show more content…

Think mean girls “you can’t sit with us”! Other chosen social definers include hobbies, such as playing an instrument or sport, and personal appearance, like clothing and hairstyles. A school’s national spelling bee champ or star athlete would rank at the top of the social sphere, like Chaucer’s noble Knight, while a lower ranked Miller might be the class clown. Unlike today, titles given to someone in the 1400’s were usually set for life and offered little to no movement to the individual assigned. Despite this daunting permanency, the Miller in the Canterbury Tales found a way to both interrupt predetermined social standards and open the boundaries of the group’s relations. His tale can be defined, at its core, as simply a “that one time at band camp”

Show More
Related

  • Isaac Miller's Narrative Essay

    1653 Words  | 7 Pages

    Isaac couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Some ragtag group of rebels trying to break away from America? This was unacceptable. “Now, they have their reasons, Isaac,” Said his mother. “Don’t think they’re just a bunch of dumb evil monsters.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Juxtaposition In The Miller's Tale

    1208 Words  | 5 Pages

    This allows Geoffrey Chaucer to use the pilgrim’s tales as Estates Satire, to explore and criticize the nature and failings of the rigidly hierarchical society of the day. “The Miller’s Tale”, therefore, acts as a response and contrast to the aristocracy represented by “The Knight’s Tale”. The prologue largely serves to stress the low class and questionable character of the Miller. It’s the Monk’s turn to tell his story after the Knight, but the Miller barges in, insisting facetiously that he has a “noble tale” of his own. The Host argues that it is a better man’s turn, but the Miller threatens to leave if he doesn’t get his way, and is allowed to tell his story.

    Read More

  • The Difference Between The Reeve's Tale And The Millers Tale

    389 Words  | 2 Pages

    The difference between the Miller’s and the Reeve’s tale is the Miller’s tale is a lot about humor and the Reeve’s tale is all about getting revenge the theme of both tales are incredibly different in my point of view. Once more the difference between these tales is different understanding of what is becoming next to the revenge and humor. The similarity with both these tales are they have an objective both their characters are faced with guilty or dishonestly. Again, the similarities are Chaucer is writing both these tales. The similarity between both these tales is the punishment of the miller and carpenter—humiliation by adultery, reeve and miller.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Reeve's Tale And The Millers Tale

    277 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the selection passages, The Miller’s tale and The Reeve Tale both tell a story about tricking others in order to gain what they desire. Both of these tale are also similar because one tale is about gaining love and the other is about tricking others in order to gain money. The Miller’s tale and the Reeve’s tale both had a similar theme as well as the ending. At the end, none of the characters really gain anything or accomplish what they desire the most.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Knight's Tale And The Millers Tale

    167 Words  | 1 Pages

    to sum up, the author believes most of the interaction between one another is fake. What is really controlling our actions is the emotion which drags our bodies to do what you feel is right. There’s no right and wrong because every action has consequence. The point is how do you choose over love, the rules, and money. The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale both elaborate the point that we are standing.

    Read More

  • Chaucer's A-Z Quotes

    1175 Words  | 5 Pages

    This gave him an Opportunity to gauge the types of tales told by the others so he could tell a more outrageous tale than anyone who'd gone before him. Although he is in a lower social standing, Miller’s cunning ability shows throughout the story since most people tend to underestimate

    Read More

  • Religion In The Miller's Tale

    1216 Words  | 5 Pages

    Using the character of Nicholas, Chaucer presents how intellectualism makes its way to the top of social status, as Nicholas strips away the power of Catholicism. In an attempt to outsmart John by using his knowledge, Nicholas states that “a student has been wasting time at school if he can’t make a carpenter a fool.” (113-114) which exemplifies the power shift moving into the hands of the scholars. At this moment, Nicholas makes it clear to Alison, John’s wife, that his knowledge can be used to his advantage against John to lure him into their carefully crafted plan. John being the wealthy upperclassmen and Nicholas being the poor scholar, means very little as Nicholas easily deceives John.

    Read More

  • The Canterbury Tales Vs The Pardoner's Tale

    761 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chaucer’s Best Story Essay In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, there are many entertaining values and moral lessons. In Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury tales, a group of pilgrims are journeying to the holy site of Canterbury. Due to the long journey, the host plans to start a contest between the pilgrims. Each pilgrim has to tell an entertaining story and the pilgrim with the most entertaining story wins a free dinner.

    Read More

  • The Pardoner's Tale Comparative Essay

    1053 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales depicts the differing levels of society of the Medieval period. The tales with the most notable differences are “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale.” The former story is about three men consumed by greed, which ultimately leads them to their h. The latter tale is about two clerks who seek revenge on a miller who steals grain from their school. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” drastically differ in their moral themes that depict revenge, sin, and greed. “The Pardoner’s Tale” illustrates the effects of revenge, sin, and greed.

    Read More

  • Women In The Miller's Tale

    613 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Miller’s Tale, a chapter in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, women are dependent on men, and described as weak, and submissive. As a result, Chaucer portrays women as mere objects that can be possessed. Chaucer describes women as delicate beings. In “The Miller’s Tale,” when the Miller describes Allison, he talks about her personality:

    Read More

  • Theme Of Humor In The Miller's Tale

    1227 Words  | 5 Pages

    Geoffrey Chaucer pushed boundaries and told stories he knew his audience would want to hear. “The Miller’s Tale” as well as “The Reeve’s Tale” has crocodilian humor. Chaucer used bawdy and vulgar scenarios to generate laughter for the audience. His sardonic sense of humor made stories seem larger than life (Brewer, Derek). Both tales feature an elaborate plan for sexual gratification and have components of irony.

    Read More

  • The Millers Tale And The Reeve's Tale Analysis

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Deception In Miller's Tale

    242 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the story of The Miller’s Tale, Nicholas, the clerk, uses the story of the Noah’s flood from the old testament of the bible as a deception and to manipulate the carpenter, John. John, without a doubt in his head, immediately believed Nicholas’ “vision” and followed all of his instructions. This means that many people are easy to manipulate or deceive just by using a statement or a story from a religious source in the middle ages. Furthermore, Nicholas also warns John that once they were inside the tubs, they must do nothing and not speak a word but only pray because it is “God’s commandment”. Nicholas also added that John and Alison should be on different tubs because it is a “sin” for them to be on the same tubs.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Miller's Tale

    818 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale” he uses symbolism as a literary element to create an underlying Christian theme that portrays the characters in the story as biblical figures. Each character of the story represents a different figure from the bible such as, Nicholas and Alisoun representing Adam and Eve, John the carpenter representing a Great Divine and Absolon representing The Devil. Throughout the story, there are many different aspects that highlight the Christian theme and allow the readers to truly see this interpretation. Throughout the story readers may recognize the alignment between Nicholas and Alisoun and Adam and Eve.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Miller's Tales

    255 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Canterbury Tales the Miller’s and the Reeve’s tales are very similar yet completely different at the same time. Both tales show how each main character gets swindled by their own family members. The Miller’s tale is a very raunchy story about the Reeve; while the Reeve’s tale is raunchy aswell as serving a lesson to the readers. Both characters told their stories to poke fun at one another in very trollop manners.

    Read More

More about What Is The Purpose Of The Miller's Tale

Open Document