Consider the ways in which the Miller presents John the Carpenter in

Throughout the Canterbury Tales, various characters are introduced and tell a tale, each of which tells a different story. All of the tales are unique and address different issues. “The Miller’s Tale” is the second of the many stories and varies from all of the rest. As seen from the “General Prologue,” Chaucer clearly depicts the Miller as a crude, slobbish man who will say anything. This reputation is held true as the Miller drunkenly tells a story full of adultery and bickering. Despite the scandalous nature of “The Miller’s Tale,” the story also displays some of Chaucer’s prominent beliefs. As “The Miller’s Prologue” and “The Miller’s Tale” are told, it becomes evident that Chaucer is challenging the common roles and behaviors of women, and he is also questioning the effectiveness of social class.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are some of the most widely read and anthologized pieces of medieval poetry. These tales are generally celebrated and enjoyed because of the author’s use of wit and satire, as Chaucer often uses word play and characterization to deliver hard-hitting, yet entertaining truths about his time period. This is the case in “The Miller’s Tale,” which portrays the story of a carpenter with an adulterous wife and the shenanigans that take place during and after one of her affairs. After closely examining “Absalom’s Revenge,” the last section of this tale, it is clear to see that Chaucer uses language, puns, and other writing techniques to provide a commentary on the lewdness of some who lived during the Middle Ages.

Such an intense reaction to the Miller’s tale—in which someone of the Reeve’s vocation is bested by a younger, more virile man—seems based upon the Reeve’s sudden need to defend his manhood against another man’s slander. By telling a story in which a carpenter is bested by another man sexually, the Miller has wounded the pride of the Reeve, who now must display a story in which a miller is dominated by another man to defend his masculinity. As Angela Jane Weisl explains in “‘Quiting’ Eve:Violence Against Women in the Canterbury Tales”, the need to reclaim his ego informs the Reeve’s desire to “become[] powerful and thus, violent, masculine” through his warning to the Miller that he might endure corporeal harm (123). By having the Reeve devise to reassert dominance over the Pilgrim Miller in such violent ways before the tale has even begun, Chaucer prefaces the clerk to share the same anxiety over requiting the tale’s miller through sexual

Most compelling is Chaucer’s incorporation of religion in the story. Religion seemed to be something the characters used and abused in order to get what they want in life. Nicolas used the Biblical story of Noah’s arc in order to fool John so he can sleep with Alisoun. Nicolas was the only one who had a God like role in this tale because he convinced John. Throughout the story, Nicolas got everything he wanted; he had the beautiful girl, tricked the husband, but in the end it was quite the opposite. John was hanging from the roof, the

“This Miller has done me great mischief, and I will not leave without first finding his daughter” (The Reeve). In the end, the students sleep with the Miller’s wife and daughter, and the Miller ends up beaten and losing many of his possessions, but the story doesn’t justify the students, the stealing, or even the greed itself. Chaucer leaves it up to the readers to make their own conclusions.

I agree with what Condren’s view on Chaucer. Chaucer shows in the story Chaucer talks about how dynamic life is and how different the people are. Life is a crazy thing but Chaucer makes it really different. He makes everything “fascinating” with everything he talks about has to have a story behind it and the people have stories behind them. He makes the people “fascinating” he talks about how they have rashes and have nasty eyebrows and the way they dress. Nothing is boring with them.

One literary device that Miller uses is a metaphor. John is a farmer in the community of salem which means he is one of the more important people in the community. When describing how hard farming is he says,"The farm is a continent when you go foot by foot dropping seeds in it."(Miller 162 Act 2) This metaphor is saying that the field John uses to farm is a vast large area of land. The fact that he claims his land to a continent just goes to show how large his land is. Not only does it show how big his land is, but it also shows that John is a hardworking man among the community and a vital asset to the community. Another metaphor Miller uses to portray John is when he says,” I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner from such dogs.”(Miller 116 Act 1) This metaphor is saying how John talks about how he is good human being and would never mean to do wrong to anyone or anything. John claims he is not a good man in the eyes of god, but however he is honest man nonetheless. Arthur used a lot of metaphors but the two above were the best that shaped John into the character that Arthur wanted him to be. Not only

In the prologue Chaucer talks about many of the characters. He often tells stories and describes how they act and how they are. From being members in the church to having a good and bad reputation in the town, all the characters are unique in their own way. Chaucer describes the summoner, pardoner, and the friar by using indirect characterization in each of their stories.

In “The Miller’s Tale” Chaucer explains how the Miller was a drunk and pale man that did not have a wife or children, but even before telling his story, it wasn’t his turn by interrupting the Monk before him and begins to explain his story. The miller start to explain about a young girl called Alison and her husband called the Carpenter, Alison was an only 18 years old when she married her husband and he was an old man. They lived in Oxford the Carpenter would admire the beauty of his wife and how the town man would be envious of him for his wife. It also involved two other man Nicholas and Absolon these men were also young, Nicholas was a clerk that would happen to be a secret love affairs, but also very clever and discreet and Absolon was a foppish clerk and a handsome man that every woman loved. Those three men were in love with Alison, but affording Alison only

“Whore!” John Proctor yelled to show how he felt about Abigail. While reading The Crucible I have come to a conclusion that John not only is a sinner, but he is also loyal and an outcast. In some ways i feel like i can relate and see that we are similar. Both John and I are sinners, we are loyal and we are both outcasts.

The Miller's Tale is the story of a carpenter, his lovely wife, and the two younger gentlemen who are in love with the carpenter’s wife. The carpenter, John, is married to a much younger woman, Alison, who is considered a local beauty. To make a bit of extra money, John rents out a room in his house to a poor but clever cleric named Nicholas, who has taken a liking to Alison. The other man interested in Alison is a clerk named Absalon. Nicholas uses his astrological studies to convince John to prepare for a storm so he and Alison could have the night alone. With Nicholas and Alison alone, Absalon tries to get Alison to like him by singing to her but she does not find him attractive.

Throughout the play Miller creates tension between the characters, however this tension is mainly shown in Act Two. Although the main theme of the Crucible is witch craft, this act concentrates mainly on the relationship of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Miller uses a variety of dramatic devices such as, stage directions, long pauses and silences, entrances of other characters (interruptions), use of contrast, length of sentences and punctuation to express mood and feeling, use of figurative language and repetition and how other characters react to a particular problem.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller made Proctor the protagonist to exemplify himself. John Proctor was accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. John Proctor was a man that did not believe in witchcraft. Arthur Miller was the same he did not care about the communism. Miller wrote The Crucible to express his feelings over what was going on in his life about being accused of being a communism.

Miller uses the conventions of self-recognition and the common man to complete his tragedy in The Crucible. Miller defines recognition to be the “need of man to wholly realize himself is only fixed star” (Tragedy and the Common Man), clearly, miller believes a self-recognition to be the most important convention of a tragedy. The protagonist, John Proctor portrays a tragic hero in The Crucible, where his recognition is the

In both “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale,” Chaucer uses deception and cunningness as a form of persuasion. In “The Miller’s Tale,” Nicolas utilizes his cunningness to persuade Alison to have an affair with him. As he begins flirting with her,