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

806 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: humor in Miller's tale.

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

The Miller's Tale.

In your answer you should pay particular attention;

- Vocabulary and style

- Form

- Any other features of language you consider to be important

John the Carpenter is a character who Chaucer uses to make an example

of someone who is extremely gullible. To some extent, the nature of

which he is gullible can often be unbelievable because some of the

things he does are of a farcical nature;

"Y-geten us thise kneeding-tubbes three,

Than shaltou hang hem in the roof full hye"

The Carpenter is a central character in the plot because he is the

person who the majority of the 'jokes' and farces are based upon. The

fact that he has such a gullible nature means that he is easily

tricked into believing anything of an absurd nature, this usually

being from Nicholas. Also, as the tale develops, we actually see it

becoming even more stupid. These farcical situations all create to the

main theme of the tale which s the mocking of the Fabliaux and

Courtley Love.

John is presented to the reader as a character who is extremely

jealous and possessive of his wife. Then when John's gullibility leads

him to believe Nicholas pronouncement that a second flood is coming,

John foolishly accepts and believes what he is saying, giving Nicholas

the opportunity to sleep with John's wife. Chaucer therefore presents

John as getting what he deserved due to his jealous nature. However,

Chaucer gives an equal balance to John's character; some character

traits allow to him be rather dim and gullible, but also at the same

time he shows a kind and caring nature. This is shown, when after

finding out about the flood, his main concern is f...

... middle of paper ...

...eing the least

important, and Alison as predominantly having the rule over both the

other two men. However, Chaucer presents the carpenter as being the

opposite of how a stereotypical man is. Usually, it would be the man

who powers of the woman, yet in the tale we see a reverse in roles,

thus showing the carpenter as being weak and unable to defend himself

against the strong nature of his wife.

Once again, the whole image of the carpenter being gullible and his

wife having 'the upper-hand', adds to the farce which the whole tale

is, and contributes to mocking the theme of Courtley Love and the

Fabliaux. The Miller is merely presented in the way he is, so that a

light-hearted, humouress tone can be added to the tale. The acts of

foolish carpenter make unlikely situations occur which are simply

laughable at; creating an entertaining tone for the audience.

Show More
Related

  • Reverse Gender Roles in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this novel, the women and the men have very different roles. Baum created strong and powerful women, but needy and inferior men. The main women in the novel, such as Dorothy, the Stork, the Queen of Mice and Glinda, all handled things on their own as well as did things to help the men in the novel. On the other hand, the main men in the novel, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Lion and the Wizard, all were unable to do things completely on their own and needed help, usually from the women. This clearly shows that the empowered characters in the novel were the main women characters.

    Read More

  • Early Twentieth Century Literature: Perkings, Chopin, Fitzgerald

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    When studying gender roles in history, one will find that females are often depicted in similar ways no matter the era or region of study. Even when comparing the industrialized, early, twentieth century to today’s progressive era, there are striking similarities between female roles. We can see that over the course of the twentieth century, the qualities of loyalty and honesty have decreased in marriages due to the treatment of the two main female roles as depicted literature. The first was the role of the wife. The wife was often portrayed as a housekeeper and a nanny. Dull in appearance, there was no aesthetic beauty to this typical female. The other main role was the “other woman.” The more mysterious and promiscuous character, this woman portrayed the other part of the female population. Both of these types of characters are composites that portrayed the average, disposable female while how they were treated conveyed the general handling of females in the early, twentieth century.

    Read More

  • Curley's Wife Feminist Analysis

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, published in 1937, many characters are depicted as having a turbulent and continuously changing relationship with power. In the case of Curley’s wife, her power, or lack thereof, derives from her status of being the only woman on the ranch during a time when females were viewed as being inferior and subordinate to men. In some instances, Curley’s wife uses her femininity to her advantage to flirt with the various men on the ranch and obtain information from them. She is aware of her beauty and the control over men this gives her and she realizes that a seductive attitude can be used to manipulate others. Although, ultimately, being a woman is her downfall. The men on the ranch ridicule her and dismiss

    Read More

  • The Role of Female Characters in American Literature: The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hetypes of these primary characters, both of these novels make a parallel statement on feminism. The expectations of both themselves and society greatly determine the way that these women function in their families and in other relationships. Looking at the time periods in which these novels were written and take place, it is clear that these gender roles greatly influence whether a female character displays independence or dependence. From a contemporary viewpoint, readers can see how these women either fit or push the boundaries of these expected gender roles.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Joseph Conrad's The Heart Of Darkness

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    The role of women in The Heart of Darkness is at first seen as one that is very much a backseat role to that of a man’s in the empirical

    Read More

  • Characterization of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Desiree's Baby

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century brought about revolution, fueled by the energy and freedom of a new horizon…but it was still just around the bend. In this era, during which both short stories were published, members of the weaker sex were blatantly disregarded as individuals, who had minds that could think, and reason, and form valid opinions.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality Theory

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women’s myths were thought to be irrelevant and not socially dominant which as an effect overlook them. Generally, these myths made assumptions to sex differences almost resembling those that give credit to male dominance, while transforming these characterizations and reversing the moral interpretations. For example, men are childish and women are mature, men are morally weak but women are virtuous, men are brutish and women are gentle, and men are hardheaded and power-hungry while women are cooperative. Women’s specific beliefs could vary by period, region and social

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susanne Beacker's Monster Culture

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious

    Read More

  • Comparing Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and Waiting for Mr. Kim

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    In both of these stories there are certain characteristics of females that are the same, they are inner strength, obedience, honor and respect, the good of the family is better than the good of the individual.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Characters in “Story of an Hour” and “Chrysanthemums”

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both stories show the characters inequality with their lives as women bound to a society that discriminates women. The two stories were composed in different time frames of the women’s rights movement; it reveals to the readers, that society was not quite there in the fair treatment towards the mothers, daughters, and wives of United States in either era. Inequality is the antagonist that both authors created for the characters. Those experiences might have helped that change in mankind to carve a path for true equality among men and women.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Use Of Power In Macbeth

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...key component to the plan. The gender roles of Macbeth and his wife seem to go hand in hand, the operation would not succeed with only one of the individuals. This shows that a woman’s psychological actions are just as powerful as a man’s manual work.

    Read More

  • Gender in Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the development of the folktales leads to the obtaining of ideas about gender. In many ways our society supports the idea that women seem underestimated as well as physically and mentally weak in comparison with the men who is portrayed as intelligent and superior. This can be shown in many ways in the different versions of this folktale through the concepts of symbolic characters, plot and narrative perspective.

    Read More

  • Womanhood In Lady Macbeth

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    The traditional views of a woman in society are to be innocent and look upon as a figure of their husband’s accomplishments. For example, the citizens under Julius Caesar were scared that Cleopatra had charmed Julius by her charisma or courage. In Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth into achieving her own quest for power.

    Read More

  • Treatment of Women in Ancient Literature

    2408 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.

    Read More

  • What Women Most Desire

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...sed on the information given in the tale, I feel that women don’t desire to have power over their husbands. However, I do feel that women desire to have power, just not total power over their husbands like the Wife feels. I feel that women like to have an equal balance of power with men. I do not think that the Wife sees this as being possible. She seems to be so angry at men, because of the bad experiences that she has with her five husbands, and she doesn’t seem to want to change her belief in the fact that women have so much power. She actually demonstrates the power that women have towards her five husbands. She always seemed to get her way with them. Sadly, in today’s society, women are still not given the proper credit they deserve. It is shameful that women don’t receive equal representation in many situations. This is a topic that is still debated to this day.

    Read More

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

Open Document