The sow thinks on carnal things from her thoughts wicked or wasteful deeds result. The pig is also the man who is unclean of spirit. The pig (porcus) is a filthy beast (spurcus): it sucks up filth, wallows in mud, and smears itself with slime.Sows signify sinners, the unclean and heretics. The entry for ‘sow’ in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 764, for instance, explains: The female pig is a good ‘spirit animal’ for the Miller since, according to medieval bestiaries, the sow represents dirty-minded, unclean people. In the Canterbury Tales, animal imagery is often used to highlight certain aspects a character shares with these animals.

These two references to the sow are no coincidence. Reed as the brustles of a sowes erys ( General Prologue, ll. The Miller is a stout fellow, full of brawn, who likes wrestling and has a big mouth more importantly, the Miller’s red hair is explicitly linked to the sow:Īnd therto brood, as though it were a spade.Ī werte, and theron stood a toft of herys, ‘A mind like a sow’? Let me explain by first pointing out that the Miller, in his appearance, also resembles a female pig. A sow in body and mindĬopulating boars in Le livre de chasse (1407 source) and a sow in London, British Library, Harley 4751, fol 20r (England, 13th century). Robin the Miller certainly has a wicked sense of humour and a mind like a sow: full of dirty thoughts. The clerk, disgusted and out for revenge, pretends to return for another kiss and, after being farted in the face, shoves a redhot poker up the offending orifice. One of the Tale’s highlights is the moment a parish clerk accidentally kisses a woman’s arse (incidentally, the woman’s response, “Tehee!”, is the first recorded instance of the interjection “Teehee!” in the English language). Indeed, the Miller’s Tale is all about sex and obscenities. The Miller’s interests are also ungentlemanlike: Chaucer reveals in his General Prologue that Robin the Miller is “a janglere and a goliardeys, And that was moost of synne and harlotries” ( General Prologue, ll. Robin the Miller in the Ellesmere Manuscript (Huntington Library, EL 26 C 9 source)Ĭhaucer’s Miller behaves like a pig and his demeanour towards his fellow pilgrims is nothing short of boarish: he drunkenly interrupts the Knight and the Host and angers the Reeve by telling a bawdy tale about how a carpenter was tricked by a student (the Reeve used to be a carpenter).

Perhaps one of Chaucer’s most memorable characters is Robin the Miller, depicted here in the early-fifteenth-century Ellesmere manuscript: To pass the time, the pilgrims tell each other stories and, along the way, the audience learns about the pilgrims' appearance, their behaviour and how they react to each other's tales.

In his Canterbury Tales (1387-1400), Geoffrey Chaucer brings to life a great variety of characters who set out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.

Geoffrey chaucer the miller's tale