The Reeve’s Rebuttal

The Reeve's Rebuttal

The Reeve of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales I portrayed in the first as “old and choleric and thin”(605), choleric meaning short-tempered and yellow. All of Chaucer’s descriptions of the pilgrims in his tales give an insight into and very well foreshadow the their tale to come, and the Reeve is of course no exception. His description continues, portraying him with a conservative and resolve appearance, and one of fierce authority. Clever, calculating, and ruthless seem to sum up his personality, an imposing persona in a weakening body. And when it comes his time to tell his tale, he is quick t fight tale to tale with the Miller to embarrass him more so, being a carpenter himself and having the Millers tale just so insultingly decrying another carpenter. His description is immediately true, as his short-temper brings his tale of a hapless and cruel miller’s defeat in order to decry the Miller.

In the Reeve’s tale, two scholars visit a cheat of a miller from the local university with corn to grind. These boys eventually turn the tables on the miller, and thus it is no small surprise that the position these boys are in is similar to the Reeve’s career as well. The boys, clever and aware, watch to make sure they wouldn’t get cheated by the miller, so in turn the miller lets loose their horse, delaying their return home and letting the miller keep a