The Canterbury Tales

The Prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales provides either a positive or negative description of each character presented by the narrator, namely the tavern keeper. He explains that some characters like the Reeve do not meet the standards of their class. At the beginning of the Reeve’s description, Chaucer tells the reader that he is an old, sick man that is well shaven, clean cut, and hard working on the farm. He also describes the Reeve as choleric, which means he is bad tempered or angry most of the time towards others, and is not as innocent as he looks.
This Reeve in Canterbury Tales is primarily a manager of someone’s farm, which he has been doing for a long time. Since he is experienced for many years, the Reeve was said that “He could foretell, by drought and by the rain, the yielding of his seed and of his grain. His lord's sheep and his oxen and his dairy, his swine and horses, all his stores, his poultry, were wholly in this steward's managing…” (Lines 596-600), which means he could estimate the yields of his owner’s crops and livestock based only on the rainfall every year. He was also a part time carpenter, which leads him to trouble when the Miller tells an insulting tale about carpenters.

The narrator explains how much money and stuff the Reeve has compared to his lord that he manages.

He describes, “His cottage was a good one, on a heath; by green trees shaded with this dwelling-place. Much better than his lord could he purchase. Right rich he was in his own private right…” (Lines 607-610). His lord does not know where the Reeves money comes from, nor does he take notice of his belongings. He bought a horse that was elegant, and dapple-grey, by the name of Scot, which the Reeve rode with a long blue surcoat like a friar would wear. The Reeve lived with style and of good health that was treated like a priest, but nobody liked him and was afraid of him like

death.
Even though the Reeve “shaved his beard as close as razor can. His hair was cut round even with his ears; His top was tonsured like a pulpiteer's.” (Lines 589-591), he was considered a very skilled thief, a blackmailer, and he enjoys the greetings he gets from his lord. He does buy gifts for his lord, but he buys them with dirty money and expects to get something in return from the lord, like coats and hoods. “There was no agent, hind, or herd who'd cheat, but he knew well his cunning and deceit…” (Lines 604-605) this explains that he outsmarts his lord and his property only to loan to the lord from these dirty funds, thereby gaining himself favor from him. The Reeve keeps everything he has done private and moves on with his job, as well as his stealing.
As can be seen, The Reeve is not a true gentle, old and sick man. He is a Thief, Blackmailer, and user of ones belongings to make his life better. He is a great example of the action that “Money is the root of all evil”, and as shown above, The Reeve becomes a monster when he comes up with a method to make more money for himself by trading and selling his owner’s animals and goods. Chaucer does not accept the Reeve as a good person and nor does the tavern keeper in the prologue of Canterbury Tales.