The Reeve In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The true character of the pilgrim, Reeve in The Canterbury Tales Prologue, is revealed through his skillfulness, trickery and slyness. The Reeve seems to always be doing something dishonest, yet never gets caught. One of his most criminal acts is stealing from his lord, which he does too often. He continues to do the wrong thing, but as the manager of the estate, no one below him ever dares to do the same. The Reeve is able to outsmart those around him because he knows to never leave a trace of anything.
The Reeve is described as an old man so thin that his legs resemble sticks. He gives a sickly appearance as if he suffers from a disease. He has a beard closely shaven to his skin and his hair stops just above his ears like a priest’s. He wears clothes that would generally be worn by a friar, not a man with money. The narrator tells the readers this to indirectly infer that the Reeve tries to hide his riches by

not looking wealthy. However, he also wears a costly overcoat and rides an expensive horse named Scot, which both indirectly show his true wealth. The narrators states, “The stallion-cob he rode at a slow trot…he wore a bluish shade and rather long,” (line 633-635). Personality wise, the Reeve is an ill-tempered man who scares his subordinates. No bailiff, serf, or herdsmen ever attempts to cheat on the lords land because they are terrified of the Reeve and know they will get caught because he knows every trick. Those caught suffer from blackmail from the Reeve himself.
It is directly told that the Reeve accumulates a lot of wealth from working as the manager of his lord’s estate, however he tries to hide this fact. Besides dressing poor to fool people, he hides his treasures and lives in a house that is hidden and unattractive on the outside. The narrator gives the direct quotation, “He had grown rich and had a store of treasure tucked away,” (627-628). He steals from his lord, and covers up his tracks so nobody can find out. He is also called “a carpenter of first-rate skill” by the narrator, which is an indirect quotation. The Reeve is not a real carpenter, but this implies that he puts on a false front, and deceives others from what he truly is; a rich fraud.
The Reeve has gained full trust from his lord with everything on the estate, including the crops and livestock.

With years of experience, the Reeve is able to estimate the amount of products needed to be produced judging by only the rainfall. What the lord does not know is that the Reeve has been outsmarting him for the past several years. He steals the animals on the land and sells them, then keeps all the money that he makes on them. He takes whatever he can from the land and uses it for himself or sells it for a profit. With all the treasure that the Reeve acquires, some of it is used to buy cheap gifts for his lord in order to flatter him.
Without ever being caught, the Reeve continues to use his experience on the land and steal from it constantly for his own personal gain. Meanwhile, he punishes those below him who are attempting to perform the same acts. While describing the Reeve, Chaucer infers that this pilgrim is of deceitful nature. The Reeve manages look like the most reliable worker on the estate, when in reality he is the most immoral

one.