The Concept of Dramatic Principle and Its Relation to the Global Frame Story in the Tales The Knight’s, The Miller’s, and the Reeve’s in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a series of tales told by pilgrims on their journey from Southwark to the Canterbury Cathedral. The actual journey itself takes a relatively minor, background role to the real “frame story," that is the exchanges and interactions between the tellers. This relationship between tales and tellers is commonly labeled the "dramatic principle," and in this essay I will demonstrate this concept and how it relates to the global frame story while focusing on three tales: the Knight's, the Miller's, and the Reeve's. “The Knight's Tale" is the opening tale in Canterbury and operates as a sort of primer for the rest of the book. It is a romance, sharing many themes and features with the immensely popular Roman de la Rose.

As such, it is well within the comfort level of many readers and is a convenient, easily approachable introduction to the book, It is a lengthy tale, containing flowery (literally) language and romantic imagery. Emelye, the object of the protagonist's love, is ”fresher than the May with floured new," comparing her to flowers in bloom and spring. This sort of ornate diction and imagery continues throughout much of the tale. And sets the stage for the extreme juxtaposition that is “Miller’s Tale." After the Knight is through, the Host, organizer and proponent of the tale-sharing game, invites the Monk to share his tale next. However, the Miller, a loud and currently very drunk fellow, interrupts and demand that he shares his stow next. In the "General Prologue," an introduction to the story that defines and describes each character, the Miller is described as ugly and boisterous, and hinted that he had a personality and temperament to match.

This bit of characterization is important. For, as we will come to find out, the teller is just as important as the tale. The Miller promises to "quyte (repay) the Knight‘s tale," introducing the first example of the dramatic principle, as the Miller is directly responding to "the Knight's Tale,” and , after blaming the “ale of Southwark" on his attitude and bawdy tale, tells the story of a naive carpenter and his less-than-faithful wife. In the tale, the carpenter is played for a fool by a clerk, tricked into building a miniature ark to prepare for the coming storm in which "shal falle a reyn and that so wilde and wood/That half so greet was never Noes flood (...) in less than in an hour.” The carpenter is easily deceived and runs to begin the creation of a small ark, while the clerk and the carpenter's wife sneak away together. The tale is bawdy and raucous, with another man, also a suitor for the wife, is tricked and "kiste hir naked ers."

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It is likely, judging by the tales content, the Miller’s character, and his desire to repay the Knight's tale, that the entire point of the story was to contrast the Knight's. In this way, the dramatic principle is enforced and the frame story begins to take shape. Finally. for our discussion, we have Reeve's tale. The Reeve is a carpenter by trade, and thus is angered by the Miller’s insult to his profession. His tale involves two young clerks getting revenge on a physically and morally ugly Miller, by taking advantage of his wife and daughter. The tale is even more sexual in nature than the Miller's, desiring to top it on every lewd level. Tellingly, the Reeve ends his tale with "Thus have i quit the Millere in my tale,” further emphasizing the tale’s function as an insult directed back at the Miller. This, combined with an earlier attempt to stop Miller from telling his tale with a "stint thy clapped," is another instance of the dramatic principle at work within the frame story.

The frame story encompassing the beginning of The Canterbury Tales, involves the Knight, the Miller, and the Reeve. The Knight sets events in motion that causes the Miller to respond to him, and the Reeve to respond to the Miller. The Miller is annoyed by the Knight’s flowery romance and tells a bawdy tale that insults the carpenter, who responds with an even bawdier tale. Understanding this, it is easy to see why the frame story, and the dramatic principle that entwines it, is essential to Canterbury, Without it, the book is not much more than a collection of random tales of varying genre and style. It is an indispensable piece of the incredible, and often enigmatic, web that is The Canterbury Tales.

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