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In medieval society, a Reeve is a manager of an estate. This Reeve is slender, old, and crabby. Everyone is afraid of him because he knows all the tricks of the trade. The Reeve squirrels away the money that he earns from his landowner; indeed, at this point, he’s wealthier than his boss. The Reeve is also a talented carpenter and is extremely offended when the Miller tells his story about a foolish carpenter.
The Reeve Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by The Reeve or refer to The Reeve. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Reeve’s Prologue
Quotes
This dronke Miller hath ytoold us heer
How that bigyled was a carpenteer,
Peraventure in scorn, for I am oon.
And, by youre leve, I shal him quite anoon.
Related Characters:
The Reeve (speaker), The Miller
Related Themes:
The Reeve’s Tale
Quotes
Thus is the proude miller wel ybete,
And hath ylost the gryndynge of the whete,
And payed for the soper everideel
Of Aleyn and of John, that bette hym weel.
His wyf is swyved, and his doghter als.
Low, swich it is a millere to be fals!
And therefore this proverbe is seyd ful sooth,
“Hym thar nat wene wel that yvil dooth.”
Related Characters:
The Reeve (speaker), Symkyn, Aleyn, John, The miller’s wife, The miller’s daughter
Related Themes:
Get the entire The Canterbury Tales LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Reeve Character Timeline in The Canterbury Tales
The timeline below shows where the character The Reeve appears in The Canterbury Tales. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The General Prologue
The rest of the company is a Reeve, a Miller, a Summoner, a Pardoner, a Manciple, and the narrator himself: besides these, “ther...
(full context)
The Reeve is a slender, choleric man with a closely cropped beard and stick-thin legs. No auditor...
(full context)
The Miller’s Prologue
...says that he will tell a legend about a cuckolded carpenter and his wife. The Reeve, himself a carpenter, angrily protests, but the Miller says that the Reeve should not take...
(full context)
The Reeve’s Prologue
Everyone laughs at the Miller’s Tale except Oswald the Reeve, a carpenter by craft, who takes the story personally. The Reeve retorts that if he...
(full context)
The Host makes fun of the Reeve for giving the company a sermon of self-pity. The Reeve changes his mind and decides...
(full context)
The Reeve’s Tale
Thus, says the Reeve, the proud miller is bested: Aleyn and John have slept with the miller's wife and...
(full context)
