Framing Tale Vs. Framed Tale In The Canterbury Tales

1132 Words5 Pages
Relationship between the framing tale and the framed tale In “the Miller’s tale” there is a captivating alliance between the Miller and his story so that the story takes on rich overtones from what we have learned of the miller in the prologue, and the Miller himself is revealed by the story. In the prologue, Chaucer introduces the Miller and reveals his physical appearance as well as his lifestyle which maps out what the audience can expect to hear in the Miller’s tale. The two stories fit together in a way that the Miller’s introduction into the story directly reflects the story he tells, which sets out the audience’s interpretation of the Miller as very rude and foul. The Miller and the other characters in The Canterbury Tales have different morals and principles which they live by which allows the audience to have this interpretation which exists in the framing tale and the framed tale. In the prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer introduces several characters, one of whom is the Miller. Chaucer characterizes the Miller through his descriptions of the man. Chaucer describes him as “a great, stout fellow, big in brawn and bone,” with red hair, who loves jokes as well as his drunken lifestyle. (pg. 17) He is described as being so immensely strong that he can “heave any door off hinge and post, or take a run and break it with his head.”(pg. 18) Chaucer describes the Miller as having a beard which “like any snow or fox, was red and broad as well.”(pg. 18) He had “a wart on which stood a tuft of hair, red as bristles in and old sow’s ear, nostrils as black as they were wide.”(pg. 18) The miller carried a sword at his side, and he had a huge mouth from which he told stories and joked around. Chaucer explained also in the prologue that the Miller was a thief and was very crafty in the fields of stealing, as stated in the prologue he was “a master at hand at

More about Framing Tale Vs. Framed Tale In The Canterbury Tales

Open Document