The Canterbury Tales, The Miller Essay, Research Paper

?The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales?

?The Miller?

?The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales? were told during

a pilgrimage journey from London to the shrine of the martyr

St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. This was

approximately 70 miles to the southeast. These Tales were

told by a group of 29 pilgrims, and a Host who met up with

them at the Tabard Inn. They left the Inn on the morning of

April, 11. The Nun?s Priest Tale was the first story

actually told, this was determined by whoever drew the

shortest straw. The pilgrim who told the best story would

win a free dinner, and the loser?s had to pay for his

dinner. Geoffrey Chaucer who was without a doubt the

greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, wrote this great

story ?The Canterbury tales?. What makes this story so

memorable is the fact that Chaucer began writing ?The

Canterbury Tales? in 1387, and had never finished , he wrote

on this story from the years 1387-1400, until he passed

away. But now that we?ve talked about chaucer and I have

gave you a little bit of background on The Prologue to The

Canterbury Tales, We are going to learn a little bit about

the Miller, who was one of the 29 pilgrims on the religious

journey. We will learn about his Physical Traits, his

Personality, and also his Professional Trades.

The Miller was a very big and strong man, that , stated

in The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, ?Could win the ram

at any wrestling show?. He was Broad, Knotty , and

Short-Shouldered. It also says he could ?Heave any door off

hinge and post, Or take a run and break it with his head.?

The Millers? beard was red, and very big and thick, and his

nose had a wart on the end, with red hairs protruding out of

it. His nostrils were black and very wide. He wore a sword

and a buckler at his side, also the Miller wore a blue hood

and a white coat. This is it for the physical traits of the

Miller, I think you know by now, that he was big, and he was

strong. Now we?ll talk about the Millers? personality.

The Millers? personality was very distinct, It matched

his physical traits almost exactly. the Miller was very

boastful in his ways, he would boast to people about how he

could bust any door down and off the hinges, or take a run

and break it with his head, he was also a very greedy man,

He would steal from the poor, or the rich without even

thinking twice. his thumb of gold was how he did this,

meaning, he pressed on the scale with his thumb to increase

the weight of the grain that he sold to his customers, or so

they thought he was selling them. The Miller also had a

filthy mouth, and told tavern stories quite often. Also, he

liked to play the bagpipes, in fact he was the pilgrim that

led all the pilgrims out of town playing the bagpipes. Well,

now that we know the greediness, dishonesty, and

boastfullness of the Miller, we?ll talk a little bit about

his professional trades.

Of course, I think we all know what his trade is, it?s

obviously a miller, He weighed corn and wheat, which he

ground up into meal and flour for his customers. But most

importantly when he would weight the people?s corn and wheat

out on the scale , he would press down on the scale to make

it seem like he was selling them more meal or flour than he

actually was. the Miller was very skilled in cheating the

scale. but, overall the miller was very good at his job,

even though he cheated his customers.

In this review of the Miller, we talked about his

physical traits, personality, and his professional trades.

As we know the Miller was very big and strong, his beard was

red, and had a big wart on the end of his nose. We also

learned of his boastful personality, how he bragged about

busting down doors with his head, and running through them

knocking the door of it?s hinges. The Miller was also a very

dishonest and immoral person, the Millers? trade was

obviously a miller, he weighed peoples corn and wheat, and

ground it up for them into meal and flour. He was very good

at this trade, but, he had one flaw, he cheated his

customers out of money, by making them pay for more meal or

flour than they were actually getting. The Miller was

obviously one of the most dishonest, and immoral characters

of The Canterbury Tales.