Archetypes In The Miller's Tale

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s in a stereotype? It’s a question humanity continues to ask, a question history continues to answer, and through a strategic placement between the archetype and the individual, a question Geoffrey Chaucer’s work The Canterbury Tales addresses. The Canterbury Tales is told through the narration of a character named after its own writer, Geoffrey Chaucer, whose presence as the universal observer sets a precedent for the provided literary commentary. In his narration, characters are confined to a set of archetypes or “stock characters” that not only impose generalizations, but seemingly brand each character to their surface-level representations. However, The Canterbury Tales does not define itself by complete character stagnancy. While Chaucer …show more content…

Initially, Alisoun is first characterized as a woman whose personality exists as a stereotypical entity and is only given special interest through her physical appeal to men. When Alisoun is initially introduced, Chaucer establishes a strong sense of her archetype through stating “She was a prymerole, a piggesnye/For any lord to leggen in his bedde/Or yet for any good yeman to wed” (I: 3268-3270). Her blazoning sexuality and wild ways exist not to reinforce her individuality, but to confine her to the eyes of men and their objective interpretation of her character. Her archetype itself lumps together all enchanting women and virtually erases all of their differences. Thus, Alisoun’s individuality is seemingly invalidated by her conformity to her stock character, making her an object to be ravaged and controlled by …show more content…

The circumstances surrounding John the Carpenter’s marriage to Alisoun reveal a marriage that’s already formed on unequal footing, as a result, John’s insecurity is confined as the archetypal controlling husband to uphold some form of power. When John marries Alisoun, it is revealed that “Jalous he was, and heeld hire narwe in cage/For she was wylde and yong and he was old/And demed hymself been lik a cokewold” (I: 3224-3226). While John was nonetheless controlling and confining of his wife, the deeper revelation is that his wife’s limitless male opportunities due to her age and beauty is threatening to him. He silently suffers and acknowledges that he could easily be replaced. Thus, while he is simply introduced as jealous and controlling, those characteristics are merely a concealment of the sad and self-actualized level of his character that offset his stereotype as merely a controlling

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