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The Miller’s Tale
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Canterbury Tales, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Satire
Competition
Courtly Love and Sexual Desire
Friendship and Company
Church Corruption
Writing and Authorship
Summary
Analysis
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 wanted to, he could tell a dirty story about millers, but that since he is an old man, there isn’t much point.
The Reeve, a carpenter, takes the Miller’s Tale not as a parody of the Knight’s Tale but as a personal insult against all carpenters.
Themes
The Host makes fun of the Reeve for giving the company a sermon of self-pity. The Reeve changes his mind and decides to tell a dirty story about millers in retaliation.
The Reeve’s Tale follows the “quiting” structure that the Miller started, where a teller responds directly to the tale last told.
Themes
