Medieval literature abounds with comic tales in verse and prose with all of them being of most different genres. Fabliau is considered to be one of the most important genres of comic tales; it represents a comic, often anonymous, tale in verse which has scurrilous and sometimes even obscene character. “Fabliaux were particularly popular in the twelfth- and thirteenth-century France … In a looser sense this term is used of humorous tales in prose or any kind of verse, which centre typically on sexual escapades and cynical tricks.” (Phillips 54) The plot of fabliaux usually centers around the jokes, folktales, and anecdotes which are known all around the world. The action is such tales is unrealistic; all the normal sanctions, morals, and consequences are removed and the characters sometimes resort to quite unexpected actions. The most famous writers who compiled tales in this genre were Douin de Lavesne, Gauter le Leu, and Jean Bodel; some of the fabliaux were reworked by Geoffrey Chaucer in his collection of “Canterbury Tales” and Giovanni Boccaccio in his “Decamerone”. “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” are fabliaux from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”; they refer to namely this genre because both of them are written in a mocking style, both use vulgar and crude language, and both express the significance of fabliaux in the tales.
To begin with, “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” have plots typical for fabliau. “The Miller’s Tale” is about and old man whose young wife is planning to cheat on him with a clerk: “For she was wild and young, and he was old,/ And deemed himself as like to be cuckold.” (Chaucer 89) This tale is a distinctive presentation of the genre of fabliau because it differs from the traditional form of verse writing. What is the most important is that it can be characterized by the detailed description of all the characters of the tale. This allows evoking sympathy or antipathy for characters, which the traditional Old French narratives never do. For instance, John is presented as a stereotypical husband who has a younger wife; he is jealous and he is always suspecting his wife in cheating on him. This is not directly demonstrated in the tale, but Alison (the young wife) refers to her husband’s jealousy in a conversation with Nicholas when John leaves the house on business: “My husband is so full of jealousy,/ Unless you will await me secretly,/ I know I’m just as good as dead.” (Chaucer 92) This tale is a fabliau because it is full of crude language, which is used even when Nicholas is speaking about love and romance. “The Miller’s Tale” also serves to introduce another fabliau, “The Reeve’s Tale”.
“The Reeve’s Tale” and “The Miller’s Tale” have similar features of fabliau. The main similarity lies in the plot of these two tales; basically, the stories differ slightly in the number of characters, setting, and by-plots. Symkyn is the main character of this tale; two witty young clerks fool the miller and sleep with his wife and daughter. What distinguishes these two tales is that miller’s wife and daughter do not make any plans on involving into sexual relationships with the clerks. Unlike Alison, Symkyn’s wife has all the grounds to complain about her husband’s jealousy: “Nor was there one so hardy, in the way,/ As durst flirt with her or attempt to play,/ Unless he would be slain by this Simpkin/ With cutlass or with knife or with bodkin.” (Chaucer 109) “The Reeve’s Tale” is without any doubt a fabliau because the very beginning of it is comic and bourgeois. Chaucer also introduces social satire into the tale to enrich the fabliau form and to complicate it. The miller and his wife are presented as people who are extremely proud of themselves and their origin; they like to show their superiority over ordinary people. The breaking of their family’s peace and showing to them that they may have problems identical to the problems of other people turns fabliau to the satire of daily life. The comic effect of this tale lies in Symkyn’s inability to realize what exactly is happening; the tale reinforces stereotypes and prejudices, which adds it mocking and derisive tone typical for fabliaux.
What distinguishes Chaucer’s use of fabliaux from their use by other writers is that Chaucer does not make his tales obscene. Some of the scholars state that Chaucer’s tales are more of courtly romance than fabliau due to the presence of sexual triangles in them. Sexual triangle is an essential feature which unites these two genres, but courtly romance has never had mocking tones which are so typical for fabliau. This distinguishing feature allows suggesting that one of these two genres may allude to another because either fabliau derived from courtly romance or vice versa. In any way, Chaucer’s tales belong exactly to fabliau, not courtly romance due to their comic character. The significance of Chaucer’s fabliaux for the tales lies in their turning the negative traits of the characters into comical ones. The use of vulgar language evokes in readers trust in the writer, because they feel that nothing is concealed from them. Some of Chaucer’s tales present the collision of poor and rich people with the former ones always holding up the latter to derision; such a turn of events makes the public delighted because the tales would not be comical if the rich ones mocked at their servants or poor people. Chaucer’s fabliaux strike with their straightforwardness allowing the readers realize the contrast between his tales and the tales written in other genres; fabliau is significant in the tale because they help to present adultery from a different perspective without evoking sorrow and compassion for those who have been cheated on.
In sum, “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” by Chaucer can be considered fabliaux because they possess all the features typical for this genre. The tales are similar in plot and all of them present a story about a rich husband whose wife cheats on him with the clerk in their house. In “The Reeve’s Tale” there are two clerks who seduce the wife and the daughter of the house owner whose reputation is his prior concern. Both the tales are written in a mocking tone and both of them use vulgar language quite frequently. Mocking at different characters is a distinguishing feature of fabliaux which makes them entertaining and easy to read. Fabliaux’s presenting sad and unpleasant events as comic ones and their ability to evoke in readers positive emotions in situations which evoke negative ones in real life make fabliau a significant genre in the tales.
Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. Read Books, 2006.
Phillips, Helen. An Introduction to the Canterbury Tales: Reading, Fiction, Context. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.