Differences Of Pilgrims In The Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in a collection of 24 stories while on a pilgrimage to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. The purpose behind this pilgrimage is for the pilgrims to visit the shrine to seek forgiveness for their sins. Due to the long trip, the host made a deal with everyone to tell two stories on the way and back from Canterbury and whoever tells the best one receives a paid for meal. Each character telling their stories gives away bits of information and a visual idea of who they really are. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses detail, point of view, and descriptive language to portray the Pardoner and Summoner to be worse than the Skipper.

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

The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's.  The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer.  When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing.  The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief.  The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it.  Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.

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

“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.

In Chaucer’s “Prologue to the Miller’s Tale”, the Miller’s physically disgusting appearance closely matches his grotesque morality of heart. The prologue opens at the closing of the Knight’s tale, as the Host asks the Monk to rival the tale with a noble story of his own. However, the Miller barges in and doesn’t hesitate to belligerently interrupt the conversation by claiming that he has a noble story of his own to share. Despite attempts to silence the Miller, he proceeds to tell his tale, exhibiting a lack of compassion, respect and self-awareness. His inebriation only fuels the fire, as he continues to illustrate recklessness and disrespect by proclaiming, “I am drunk…If I can’t get my words out, put the blame / On Southwark ale,” (Chaucer 28-30). He takes no responsibility for his actions in blaming his hostile state of mind on the alcohol. Following the Knight’s noble tale, the Miller completely shifts the tone by introducing a story about adultery. Not only is the story inappropriate in its nature, but it also directly insults the Reeve, who is a carpenter by trade. “It is a sin and a great foolishness to injure any man by defamation,” (Chaucer 36-37) yet the Miller “refused to hold his tongue for any man,” (Chaucer 59) and fails to consider his hurtful words. The speaker of the poem warns the reader that the story is bawdy and offensive, which is a testament to the Miller’s vulgar nature. Ultimately, the “Prologue to the Miller’s Tale” introduces the Miller as a

The Canterbury Tales is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392. In this poem each character tells four stories, two on the way there and two on the way home, to provide entertainment for the people on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. One part of Chaucer’s tales that truly stands out is the character prologue where he introduces all of the characters on the pilgrimage and conveys the narrator’s opinions of them using satire and other literary devices. Of characters that Chaucer’s narrator describes, two are the Parson and the Friar. Both of the characters share similarities in their social status and job position however greatly contrast in morals and character. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses contrasting characteristics to convey an idea that teaches that power does not always lead to corruption.

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.

The Canterbury Tales were written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. This masterpiece is one of the greatest classics of English Literature, it was and continues to be still very popular. Many manuscripts survived and it was the first work to be printed by William Caxton. It is a story about pilgrims travelling together, who tell stories on their journey to Canterbury, to pay tribute to Saint Thomas Becket. As it is a collection of tales, it varies in genre (there is beast fables, romances, fabliaux, saints’ lives…), subject, mood, length (some tales are 80-page long whereas some are much shorter), form (in verse –several verse-form are also found- or in prose). For this

Written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century, The Canterbury Tales is a poetic masterpiece. This work is rather unique because of its format and use of satire. The story is a framed narrative, a story within a story. The outer frame is a pilgrimage to the shine of Saint Thomas Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury. This journey is made by thirty pilgrims, including Chaucer the Pilgrim, who vary in social standing, ranging from aristocrat to peasant but excluding royalty and serfs. Chaucer often utilizes satire to draw attention to how well or how poorly suited a pilgrim is to his or her social status. The pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, England, outside London. Harry Bailly, the owner of the Inn, proposes a story-telling contest among the pilgrims to keep them entertained along the pilgrimage. He offers to accompany the pilgrims at his own expense in order to judge the contest. The plan is for each of the thirty pilgrims to tell four tales, two on the ay to the shrine and two on the journey home. The individual tales comprise the inner frame. Of the proposed 120 tales, the story that is considered most entertaining and most moral will be selected as the winner. The teller of that story will receive a dinner at the Inn upon his or her return at the expense of the other pilgrims. Despite the planned 120 tales, only twenty-two full tales and two fragments exist. One completed tale, told by the Wife of Bath, epitomizes Chaucer’s uncanny ability to match each tale to its teller.

In the reeve’s tale, the main character, the miller is very envy and greedy for wealth. The miller was proud man who obtains the daughter of the clergyman who should be faithful and honest to husband due to moral by religion and wealthy which is partly from stealing. He appears as he got everything. However, he was also guilty of sloth due to aversion to make money by his own hands. When the two university students were being lechery with his family, he was angry and fight with one

Noted earlier, the Miller’s tale is enjoyable due to its qualities of both entertainment and the idea of learning a lesson. In the prologue, the miller is defined as a filterless, rowdy drunk who speaks whatever comes to his mind. Because of this, he is portrayed as very vulgar and a nuisance since he easily offends others. The Reeve introduces the Miller at the beginning of the story as a drunk, impulsive, bully as he

These physical descriptions "were believed by the physiognomists to denote variously a shameless, talkative, lecherous, and quarrelsome character (Riverside Chaucer, 820: PMLA 35, 1920, 189-209)." Like his appearance, his personality is also depicted as being very loud and disturbing. He is depicted in the way that a young boy would be, only with the strength of a large adult. The Miller acts out and rams his head against doors, which is a common trait of a two year old, however, he is so big that it is said that:

The Canterbury Tales, a masterpiece of English Literature, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection, with frequent dramatic links, of 24 tales told to pass the time during a spring pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The General Prologue introduces the pilgrims, 29 "sondry folk" gathered at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (outside of London). Chaucer decides to join them, taking some time to describe each pilgrim.

In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives a detailed description of what life was like in Medieval times . In the “Prologue”, the reader comes to better understand the people of the time period through the characters words and actions. Chaucer uses a variety of groups of society to give the reader a deeper insight into the fourteenth century Pilgrims customs and values. Through the Court, Common people and the Church, Gregory Chaucer gives a detailed description of ordinary life in the medieval times.