The Miller and Reeve's Tales of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, while intricate examples of the French fabliaux genre, differ significantly in both progression, resolution, and overall connotation and voice of the stories. While Miller's tale seems to follow the more traditional and "feel-good" nature of the fabliaux, Reeve creates a raunchy tale with a darker, more sardonic twist at the end. The source of this difference can be found not only in the character differences of the narrators but also in the chronological placement of the tales in Chaucer's text. Reeve's story not only reflects the Miller's story, but also hosts dark humor aimed specifically at the Miller himself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Miller's story begins, as a reader would expect, as a good raunchy story would. The guest immediately notes "that he [the Miller] was drunk on beer" (line 3128, Miller's prologue) and while the guest attempts to find another narrator, the joking Miller insists on telling a story. Warning flags have already been raised over Miller's Tale. What kind of story can the listener expect from a drunken commoner? As the Miller is described, the story is disruptive and entertaining, especially following the noble story of the Knight that preceded it. This contrast makes the Miller's story unexpected and at the same time upsets the style that the Knight's story was affirming. This festive attitude is found in the story itself. The Miller's Tale quickly presents the reader with a comic paradise setting, in which a miserly commoner has a young, unmarried wife. Furthermore, Miller uses a more sensible and pleasant style of description for his characters. Unlike the characters depicted in Reeve's Tale, Miller's characters are young and attractive. The Miller offers the reader mature characters to explore sexual misadventures, Nicholas and Alisoun, and characters perfect for taking the blame, such as the carpenter or Absolon. This prepares the audience for the scandalous action that follows. It is not surprising that Nicholas and Alisoun have sordid sexual encounters, nor is it unexpected that the prim and proper Absolon becomes the "butt" of humor in the story when his advances towards Alisoun are rebuffed. Likewise, nothing life-threatening occurs in the Miller's Tale, with the exception of Absolon's revenge. Even the red-hot poker applied to Nicholas's bottom fails to show any lasting damage. The carpenter, who fell almost two stories, appears relatively unharmed. Even Alisoun gets away with her adultery without consequences for her actions. Essentially, Miller's story has no consequences of rancor other than the anger Absolon feels, which becomes central to the tale's comedic climax. Furthermore, not a single character is mentioned in the narrative. Looking at the small list of characters, everyone is accounted for correctly. Absolon, though humiliated, satisfied his honor. Nicholas found himself well “consoled” by Alisoun. The carpenter finds himself dumbfounded by the lack of a flood and his wife is well satisfied. The completion of the story, where all the loose ends of each character come together, brings about the culmination of the humor found in the tale. While the reader is entirely focused on Absolon seeking his revenge with a red-hot poker, he forgets about the carpenter sleeping in his tubs suspended near the rafters. Only after Nicholas calls for water does the full gravity and joy of the situation hit home. Although this is theconclusion of the story, the text continues with the words of the Miller. The Miller even goes so far as to bless the entire company of pilgrims in a manner similar to the end of the Knight's tale, reflecting the Miller's generally friendly disposition towards his fellow travellers. This model of festive comedy does not follow when a comparison is made with Reeve's tale. The Reeve begins by identifying the profession of miller. While this establishes the low nature of the story, Reeve specifically targets the Miller as a source of ridicule. In the Miller's Tale the profession of carpenter was not of fundamental importance. A carpenter could easily have been replaced by any other profession of a rather wealthy commoner. Reeve's story is a different matter. The profession of miller is fundamental to the story. The source of conflict in the story is not youthful sexuality or a humorous twist on courtly love, but rather the use of sexuality as a tool for revenge. The story itself begins with a description of a rather unpleasant miller, whose gross ugliness seems to have been brutally exaggerated by the Reeve who tells the story. While the Miller seems to hide his playfulness behind rosy metaphors such as the description of Alisoun's lips as "bragot or the meeth" (line 3261, Miller's Tale), Reeve is very open with his words, noting that the miller's skull is like "piled up [bald] like a monkey" (line 3935, Reeve's Tale). So effectively, where the Miller has characters suited to a twisted courtly tale, the Reeve has created macabre humans ripe for mockery and ridicule. Adding two young office workers along with a virgin wife and daughter, it becomes clear that Reeve intends to tell a similar story of sexual permissiveness. What differs in this case is the lack of attraction and "polite" behavior at the beginning of the story. While the Miller made clear the efforts Nicholas made to obtain Alisoun's "solas," Reeve's characters begin focused on getting the better of each other. At first clerks Aleyn and John think they have outsmarted the miller, Symkyn, but then Symkyn outwits them. It is easy for the reader to understand that the impending resolution will involve the employees having the last laugh. Reeve's resolution, however, is not of the same kind of nature as Miller's. Instead, Reeve arranges a series of rough sexual encounters that ultimately end in a violent brawl. The language used to describe the act of intercourse lends itself to the idea that these sexual encounters are not the same as Miller's. “Priketh harde and depe as if he were mad,” (line 4231, Reeve's Tale) which describes John having sex with the miller's wife, seems to suggest a more violent sexual act, repelled by anger rather than the lust found in the previous story. Likewise, John's partner Aleyn sleeps with the miller's daughter to deflower her virginity as a way to get revenge for the miller's tricks and thefts. Whether this is justified or not, all the revenge focuses entirely on the miller himself. It is because he is a disgusting and immoral character that these harsh punishments are happening to him. Clearly Reeve's Tale is not so much a story about sexual lust as it is a story constructed to heap unpleasant things onto one character in particular, the miller. The Reeve, when he finally concludes his story, copies the example of the Knight and the Miller in blessing the company of the pilgrims but his last words are very different. “So I quyt [repaid] the Millere in my tale,” (line 4324, Reeve's Tale) Reeve states in his last line, explicitly stating the purpose of his story. The fabliaux genre is distorted.