The Miller’s Tale
Authors Note: The purpose for this project is to explore the Canterbury Tales we’ve read in class, specifically the Miller’s tale that was originally printed in Old English. It is the intention of this speaker to explain the main plot points and themes and to modernize it for today’s youth understanding.
The Canterbury tales date back to 1387 and may be one of the world’s first and best examples of band camp story sharing. A pilgrimage to a town rather than a march to the area’s best half time show is the commonly shared journey but like band camp, there are several different characters present and accounted for. Chaucer highlights social ranking as a running theme in his writing and social rank as we know it today might best be connected to a high school setting.
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Think mean girls “you can’t sit with us”! Other chosen social definers include hobbies, such as playing an instrument or sport, and personal appearance, like clothing and hairstyles. A school’s national spelling bee champ or star athlete would rank at the top of the social sphere, like Chaucer’s noble Knight, while a lower ranked Miller might be the class clown. Unlike today, titles given to someone in the 1400’s were usually set for life and offered little to no movement to the individual assigned. Despite this daunting permanency, the Miller in the Canterbury Tales found a way to both interrupt predetermined social standards and open the boundaries of the group’s relations. His tale can be defined, at its core, as simply a “that one time at band camp”