Comparing and Contrasting "The Miller's Tale" and "The Reeve's Tale"

<Tab/>"The Miller's Tale" and "The Reeve's Tale", two stories in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, are fabliaux, bawdy and comic tales that build to a ridiculous and complex climax usually hinging on some joke or trick. One parallel observed between the two stories is the unfaithfulness of the wife in marriage. Another similarity between the two stories is the theme of a husband who tries to keep control of his …

…These similarities and differences in "The Miller's Tale" and "The Reeve's Tale" serve to show the disdain between the miller and the reeve. The jealousy of the two husbands engenders the adulterous and lustful acts of the wives. In addition, Chaucer conveys the moral of evil not bringing good through the castigation of the husbands. Indeed, the miller and the reeve's intentions to embarrass and insult the other exemplifies the disparagement and for one another.