Premium Content The Effeminate Carpenter: The Actions and Attitudes of John in “The Miller’s Tale”
By Kimberly Bruss - October 10, 2008
Carpenters are traditionally regarded as hard-working, rugged men with calluses on their hands and dirt beneath their fingernails. They are strong and silent; they take pride in their work and are generally self-assured. One of the main characters in “The Miller’s Tale” from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, however, breaks the typical carpenter…
This excerpt of the essay is provided for free. To read the complete essay of 1233 words or to get access to our full library of Literature Essays, please subscribe below or log in if you are already subscribed.
Join Now - Choose a Membership Level
GradeSaver provides access to quizzes, 2862 literature essays, 833 sample college application essays and ad-free surfing in this premium content, "Members Only" section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.
We have been mentioned in the Washington Post, the Economist, and many other papers around the world for our exceptional essays. GradeSaver has reviewed each essay for quality; these essays are the very best on the Internet and many have been written by students of Ivy League colleges.
| 3-Day Trial (recurring) | $2.95 * |
| 30-Day Trial (recurring) | $6.95 * |
| 1 Month Membership (one-time charge) | $12.95 |
| 12 Month Membership (one-time charge) | $49.95 |
* After your trial period, you will be billed a monthly fee of $6.95 with the option to cancel at any time. Questions? Read our FAQ.
Existing Users
The Canterbury Tales Essays and Related Content
- The Canterbury Tales: Study Guide
- The Canterbury Tales: Major Themes
- The Canterbury Tales: E-Text
- The Canterbury Tales: Questions
- The Canterbury Tales: Purchase the Novel and Related Material
- Geoffrey Chaucer: Biography
- "Love" in the Courtly Tradition
- On Cuckoldry: Women, Silence, and Subjectivity in the Merchant's Tale and the Manciple's Tale
- Vision, Truth, and Genre in the Merchant's Tale
- In Private: the Promise in The Franklin's Tale
- Feminism or Anti-Feminism: Images of Women in Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath"
- The Characters Define the Setting for the Tales
- Playing With Plastic: An Exploration of Biblical Deconstruction in the Wife of Bath
- The Pardoner's Sin in The Canterbury Tales
- Chaucer's Prioress: Image Versus Idea
- Knight's Tale: Idealism of the Aristocrats
- The Pardoner as Con Artist
- The Presentation of Masculinity in 'The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale'
- A Taming By a Shrew?: Levels of Satire in Chaucer's Wife of Bath
- Equality and Power: Marriage in The Franklin's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale
- The Illusion of Sovereignty in the Wife of Bath's Tale
- The Role of Islam in The Man of Law's Tale
- The Commodification of Custance: A Feminist Reading of Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale
- Chaucer's Subtle Critique of the Scholar in The Canterbury Tales
- Chaucer's Pardoner: A Critique of Capitalism
- Nice Guys Finish Last - Examining the Obedience of Husbands in The Canterbury Tales
- Consistency Between Chaucer's Prologue and Character-Narrated Tales: The Wife of Bath
- Sinful Citizens: Protestant Imagery in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- Body and Soul: The Celestial Metaphor of Chaucer's Physicians Tale
- Chaucer's Knight - Dichotomy and Contradiction
- Contradictions in a Feminist Reading of The Wife of Bath's Tale
- Avarice and Irony: The Psychology of the Pardoner and his Tale
- Love in The Knight's Tale
- The Miller's Fabliau as Unconventional Romance
- The Genre of the Reeve and the Miller
- A Pardoner's Guilt
- Trapping The Mouse: The Representation of Rape in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- The Relationship Between the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- Canterbury Tales: The Power of Lust
- The Wife of Bath
- The Widow's Worthy Ways
- Choice Verses Chance: A Boethian Reading of "The Knight's Tale"
- Women's Role in Medieval Literature
- Chaucer's Knight: A Mercenary in Need of Redemption
- The Canterbury Tales as Social Commentary
- Emelye's Garden Scene in "The Knight's Tale" and Boccaccio's Teseida
- Hadde Hem Hoolly in My Hand: The Alisons of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- Christian Duty and Religious Doubt in The Song of Roland and The Canterbury Tales
- Chaucer's Ideal Character
- Wykked Wyves Redux: Sex, Money and Marriage in Chaucer's 'The Shipman's Tale'
- Mystery, Magic, and “Maistrie”: The Wife of Bath’s Allegorical Apology
- The Effeminate Carpenter: The Actions and Attitudes of John in “The Miller’s Tale”
- The Marriage of Walter and Griselda: A Socio-Political Analysis of the ‘Clerk’s Tale’
- A Portrait Formed by a Split
- Storytelling: Chaucer and the Epistemology of Genre and Story
- A Knightly Satire
