The Reeve's Tale Analysis

The Canterbury Tales, written in the late fourteenth century by Geoffrey Chaucer, are a group of stories about an assortment of diverse characters whose personas existed during that period in time. The stories cover a wide variety of individuals, ranging from the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner, and the Reeve. Although the majority of the stories were all clearly fictional, the problems seen in each story were true; the author mentions the real-world issues that the members of his society had to experience and endure. Most of the messages found in Chaucer’s literature from the fourteenth century are still applicable today, in the twenty-first century, like the message found in The Reeve’s Tale. One of the concepts found in The Reeve’s Tale was the

act of taking either a physical or a psychological possession from another person, or stealing, and is quite apparent in the Reeve's Tale. Stealing can best be observed in the story using a gender perspective, a political perspective, a moral perspective, and a bibliographical perspective.

The gender inequality seen in The Reeve’s Tale were seen in several different ways. In the time period of this story, sometimes marriage was used to confirm two people’s love for each other, but other times, it was used as a tool in order to rise to a higher social class. A person would raise the social class of their whole family from one member marrying a person who is already a part of the higher social class. This is what the family of the Miller wanted his daughter, Malyne, to do, and her grandfather, the Parson, wanted to make this happen using his own wealth and his own granddaughter’s physical attractiveness. It is not clearly stated whether she was not upset with being force to marry whoever her family tells her to, or if she was angered at the fact that she had no choice of who she wants to marry since she was limited to just one social class. Either way, it shows that she had no option but to accept her fate of having the choice to marry who she wants stolen away from her. She demonstrates that women had no power. A sense of no power is seen in

the sex scenes of Haughty Simkin's wife, John, Haughty Simkin's daughter, and Alan. Malyne and Simkin's wife were the only two female characters who are mentioned in the fable, and in the fable, both acts of sex involving Alan and John seemed more like rape rather than normal sex; both Alan and John decided to have sex with sleeping, unsuspecting victims. As numerous people in society can unfortunately concur, when someone is raped, a part of their mind and soul feels as if it has been stolen. In the case of Alan and Simkin's daughter, Alan stole her virginity. Once a person loses their virginity, they lose it forever, which only makes the state of having one's virginity even more special. Pamela Barnett states, "According to the narrator, the violation and deceit are against the Miller rather than his wife or daughter" (151). In order for the narrator to believe that the violation of the wife and daughter actually violated the Miller, the men of that time period must see women as property instead of human beings, with emotions. Naturally, both of the violations affect Haughty Simkin, since two members of his immediate family were raped; however, logically being raped should have more of an impact on the party who was actually violated, and the men of this time period failed to realize this. The Reeve's Tale shows that women were treated like objects and possessions of men, which is derived from their lack of power.
During this time period, society faced major economical and political problems. The Middle Ages is distinguishable from other time periods because the Middle Ages featured the caste system, which is social class based off birth. There were numerous issues between the classes, but the leading issue that was the most hurtful was the deceptive ways of the higher social classes to make more money off the lowest social class. This phenomenon was seen in The Reeve's Tale. In the introduction of Alan and John, the author describes them as "young and poor," and this certainly puts them in a social class lower than that of the Miller and his family, who have wealth (Chaucer 4001). After Alan and John had their merchandise stolen by Haughty Simkin, it can be noted that the Miller had possessed all of the forms of wealth that were alluded to in the story, including real money, the flour and corn that Alan and John were cheated out of, and even the women in Simkin's home since women were seen as objects and a form of wealth, while the poor boys have nothing. Before Alan violates Haughty Simkin's daughter, the author writes, "If at one point a man should be aggrieved, At yet another he shall be relieved. Our corn is stolen, that is safe to say, And he hath given us a fit all day; I can't amend the loss, but there's an action By which at least I'll get some satisfaction" (Chaucer 4185). Alan used their state of having nothing to justify him being able to have sex with Simkin's daughter without her consent. The social classes and the physical possessions of the characters certainly affect the actions of the characters, and the concept of the rich stealing from the poor can be clearly depicted throughout the story.
Morally, The Reeve’s Tale was filled with instances where the actions taken by the majority of the characters in the story went against what is considered respectable in today's society.

The instance that initially displayed the story's lack of morality was the constant passion of Haughty Simkin to cheat others out of their goods. Chaucer emphasizes, "He also was a thief of corn and meal, A sly one, too, his habit was to steal" (3939). This extra piece of information that was included in the beginning of the story foreshadows that Simkin would soon be punished for his wrong actions. As the story progresses, the reader learns of next display of immorality, which was both Alan and John initiating sex with Haughty Simkin's daughter and wife while they slept. Again, Alan states that although he cannot physically amend the boys' lost products, there was still an action that could make Alan feel better about himself, which was climbing into Simkin's daughter's bed (Chaucer 4185). John later declares that his reason for having sex with Simkin's wife is because "I lie here like an old bran sack in bed. And when this jape be told another day, I'll be a fool, a 'cockney' they will say" (Chaucer 4207). Although both Alan and John had reasons for their actions, their dialogues serve as proof to show that they only violated Simkin's family for their own benefits. Sex is believed to be a sacred act, but the boys obviously did not perceive it as such. In the aspect of justice being served

overall, the answer to if justice has truly been served is quite complex; it leaves the reader confused because it is not understood whether or not justice was served to the correct party. This is because it is not clear whose action were worse; Haughty Simkin was punished for stealing from others, while Alan and John raped Haughty's daughter and wife then escaped without punishment. In fact, John and Alan were eventually rewarded by getting their goods back. The decision on whether or not justice was served is debatable; some may believe that justice was served, and some may believed that justice was not served at all. However, both parties certainly stole from others.
It is important to study the motives of the narrator when trying to interpret The Reeve’s Tale so one can understand how the narrator may have altered a story. From the start of The Reeve’s Prologue, the Reeve is shown as a very brutal and arrogant character. The Reeve expresses, “God, may his neck be broken” (Chaucer 3918). By him wishing harm upon the Miller for sharing his story about carpenters, it shows that the Reeve cares more about his reputation rather than other human life. The Reeve’s Prologue also uncovers his purpose for sharing the story about a Miller. Chaucer reports that he “didn't see the tale one man aggrieve, Except, that is, for old Oswald the Reeve. Since carpentry had been the fellow's craft, The tale left him with ire while others laughed” (3862). This shows that the Reeve shared his negative story about a Miller because the Miller offended the Reeve with his insulting story about a carpenter. Additionally, the anger of the Reeve persuaded him to tell a negative, and most likely false, story about the Miller. The decision of the Miller to tell the offensive story about carpenters undeniably influenced how the Reeve communicated the story about the Miller.
The concept of stealing from other people is apparent in The Reeve’s Tale. The power of women, which was stolen by the men during the time period, is observed using the gender studies perspective. The wealthy class stealing from the poorer class, which was another issue of the time period, is observed using the political perspective. Lastly, using the moral perspective, multiple instances of thievery were seen which are morally wrong. The Reeve’s Tale gives insight on issues witnessed in the late fourteenth century society. Some of the problems that were found in The Reeve’s Tale were corrected with time, but some of the problems still exist today, almost 700 years later.