Canterbury Tales By Reeve Essay Research Paper

Canterbury Tales By Reeve Essay, Research Paper

Such comments as, .I pray to God his nekke mote to-breke. quickly reveal

that the verbal game of .quite. involves much more than a free meal to the

Reeve in .The Canterbury Tales. (I 3918). This overreaction, which grabs the

attention of the audience and gives it pause, is characteristic of the Reeve.s

ostensibly odd behavior, being given to morose speeches followed by violent

outbursts, all the while harboring spiteful desires. Anger typifies the

Reeve.s dialogue and his tale, which begs the question why. It appears to be a

reaction to the Miller.s insults, but they are not extreme enough to provoke

such resentment. He seem-ingly has no hesitation in articulating his bitterness,

yet he and his story are as much marked by suppression as expression. Silence

resounds as loudly as any noise in the Reeve.s Prologue and Tale. The reader

is as puzzled by his utterances as the lack of them: his sudden sermon on death

is matched by the quietness of two couples copulating in a small room of five,

none of which are able to hear what the others are doing. The reality is that

the behavior of the Reeve and the characters in his tale are not random or

unaccountable. The Reeve is continually si-lenced by other pilgrims and himself,

which is paralleled in his tale, and in turn suppresses his emotions, which

leads to even more explosive conduct. I. Characterization In order to appreciate

the melancholic and serious temperament of the Reeve, it is nec-essary to view

him in comparison to other characters, as Chaucer intended. The identities of

the pilgrims are relative. They are characterized by their description in the

General Prologue, but not fully developed until they are seen in contrast to the

pilgrim they are .quiting.. As the Miller.s personality is developed by

his dissimilarity to the Knight, so is the Reeve by the Miller. Therefore

Robin.s enjoyment of life shows just how little Oswald receives from the same.

For instance, the Miller.s large frame and excessive drinking show his delight

in small pleasures. The Reeve, however, is .a sclendre colerik man. who

controls his beard and hair (in opposition to the unruly strands that grow on a

wart on the miller.s nose) as manipula-tively as the accounts of the farm on

which he works (I 587). The Miller mastered the bag-pipes for entertainment in

his spare time while the Reeve trained with more practical tools: .In youthe

he had lerned a good myster: He was a wel good wrighte, a carpenter. (I 614).

Robin is very physical; he is strong and willing to wrestle anything and carries

a sword and buckler at his side. Oswald only carries a rusty blade, which

indicates that it is not used very often and is only for show. If compelled to

fight, he would most likely back down, preferring verbal sparring. The Miller

socializes with the group with no regards to the class system, in-terrupting the

expected order to tell his story before the Monk, while Oswald prefers to sepa-rate

himself and ride last among the group. These disparities give the impression

that Oswald is focused inward while Robin con-centrates on the outward. The

Reeve is ruled by his practical mind, which directs him to make as much money as

possible, whether it is through theft or saving or learning useful trades, and

to avoid dangerous situations, even if it entails cowardice. The Miller is more

of a Dionysian figure, who does only what pleases him, whether it is knocking

heads or ignoring his wife.s infidelities. These differences in character

foreshadow the differences in their tales. They both tell similar dirty stories

but the nature varies greatly. It is the Miller.s good-humor that trans-forms

the chivalric tale of the Knight into an account of adultery that is both bawdy

and hi-larious. As will be discussed in greater detail in this essay, it is the

Reeve.s introversion that causes him to recite his mean-spirited tale of

adultery as punishment. II. Outward Manifestations of Suppressed Emotions The

Reeve.s vindictiveness and mood swings are based in his being repeatedly

silenced and his subsequent suppression of emotions. Oswald speaks three times

in Fragment I, and on the first occasion his wishes are ignored, on the second

he is told to speak of a more amusing subject, and he is finally allowed to

speak on the third, but only because every pilgrim must tell a tale. The

Reeve.s first words are spoken to the Miller. He orders Robin to .Stynt thy

clappe!. before beginning his story of a carpenter and his wife which will

defame him and bring scandal to wives in general (I 3144). Instead of forcing

the Miller to wait until he is so-ber so that he will recite a less offensive

tale, the Host lets him compete next, disregarding the Reeve.s and his own

objections. When the Miller finishes, the Reeve does not introduce his story,

but ruminat

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