The Interruptions in the Canterbury's Tales
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 03/22/2011 05:06 AM
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The interruptions by the miller and the wife of Bath, perfectly show how they both lose track of their themes during their prologues or tales. And it’s logical to believe that such different figures would have different reasons for behaving so. Truth is, it is quite obvious that whereas the wife of Bath still manages to present her points when she wanders off, the miller doesn’t bother it at all. So it seems, the wife of Bath’s interruptions possess richer personalities and meanings, which the miller’s interruptions fail to achieve.
To begin with, we see the miller drunkenly starts his tale of a typical “farmer’s daughter story,” with which we along with the other pilgrims are too familiar. And aside from that knowledge, we are all aware what a rough misogynist the miller is, so it takes us by surprise when the miller goes into elaborate details about the appearance of the carpenter’s wife:
She wore a cross-striped sash, all made of silk; / An apron also, white as morning milk, / She wore about her loins, gored to flare. / White was her smock; its collar, front and black, / Embroidered with black silk inside and out. / … / She wore a brooch upon her lower collar / Broad as the boss upon a shield or buckler. / The shoes upon her legs were laced up high. / She was a peach, a dolly, and a daisy! / Fit for a prince to lay upon his bed / Or some good retainer of his to wed. (82-83)
The miller is so immersed in all these delicate descriptions that he pauses with “Now sir, and again sir!” (83) to remember the topic and goes back to story-telling. And actually we pause too, in astonishment, seeing him lose track of his storyline. This whole narration is so out of his character that we are fully convinced that he is, actually, getting lost in his own fantasy of a fair girl. So all this interruption is a daydream for him in a sense. Read the lines: “Roam the world up and down, you’d never raise / A man whose wit and fancy could dream up / A prettier poppet, or a girl...
To begin with, we see the miller drunkenly starts his tale of a typical “farmer’s daughter story,” with which we along with the other pilgrims are too familiar. And aside from that knowledge, we are all aware what a rough misogynist the miller is, so it takes us by surprise when the miller goes into elaborate details about the appearance of the carpenter’s wife:
She wore a cross-striped sash, all made of silk; / An apron also, white as morning milk, / She wore about her loins, gored to flare. / White was her smock; its collar, front and black, / Embroidered with black silk inside and out. / … / She wore a brooch upon her lower collar / Broad as the boss upon a shield or buckler. / The shoes upon her legs were laced up high. / She was a peach, a dolly, and a daisy! / Fit for a prince to lay upon his bed / Or some good retainer of his to wed. (82-83)
The miller is so immersed in all these delicate descriptions that he pauses with “Now sir, and again sir!” (83) to remember the topic and goes back to story-telling. And actually we pause too, in astonishment, seeing him lose track of his storyline. This whole narration is so out of his character that we are fully convinced that he is, actually, getting lost in his own fantasy of a fair girl. So all this interruption is a daydream for him in a sense. Read the lines: “Roam the world up and down, you’d never raise / A man whose wit and fancy could dream up / A prettier poppet, or a girl...