The Reeve
A manager of
someone's
estate or farm
The Reeve : Explanation Part I
- Appearance
- Old
- Thin / lean /sticks / no calf
- Closely shaven beard
- Neat
- Pride
- Choleric
- "Yellow bile" - workaholic, leader, confident, self-reliant
- Wrath
- "And ... grain."
- Estimates products of livestock by rain
- Experienced
- Skilled
The Reeve from Canterbury Tales
The Reeve: Explanation Part II
- Diligent
- Trusted by his lord
- Served lord for a long time
- "No ... arrears."
- Self-control
- Paid debt by stealing from his lord
- "Feared like the plague"
- Observant of people
The Reeve was old and choleric and thin,
His beard was shaven closely to the skin,
His shorn hair came abruptly to a stop
Above his ears, and he was docked on top
Just like a priest in front; his legs were lean,
Like sticks they were, no calf to be seen.
He kept his bins and garners very trim;
No auditor could gain a point on him.
And he could judge by watching drought and
rain
The yield he might expect from seed and
grain.
His master's sheep, his animals and hens,
Pigs, horses, dairies, stores and cattle-pens
Were wholly trusted to his government,
He had been under contract to present
The accounts, right from his master's earliest
years.
No one had ever caught him in arrears.
No bailiff, serf or herdsman dared to kick,
He knew their dodges, knew their every trick;
Feared like the plague he was, by those
beneath.
He had a lovely dwelling on a heath,
Shadowed in green by trees above the sward.
A better hand at bargains than his lord,
He had grown rich and had a store of treasure
Well tucked away, yet out it came to pleasure
His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods,
To earn his thanks and even coats and hoods.
When young he'd learnt a useful trade and
still
He was a carpenter of first-rate skill.
The stallion-cob he rode at a slow trot
Was dapple-grey and bore the name of Scot.
He wore an overcoat of bluish shade
And rather long; he had a rusty blade
Slung at his side. He came, as I heard tell,
From Norfolk, near a place called Baldeswell.
His coat was tucked under his belt and
splayed.
He rode the hindmost of our cavalcade.
Area of open, uncultivated land
- "Shadowed in green"
- Envy
- Skillful at bargaining
- Took money from his lord and became rich
- Sly
- Dishonest
- Backstabbing
- Intelligent
The Reeve: Explanation Part III
- "Subtle loans and gifts and goods"
- A means of gaining more trust by betrayal
- Greed
- A skilled carpenter
- "slow trot"
- Attire
- Plain, worn out clothing
- Rusty blade
- Middle class worker
- Makes use of tools BUT "rather long"
- Baldeswell
- 'The Reeve's Tale'
- "He ... cavalcade."
- Rode at the very back of the traveling pack
- Can see everyone and everything
- Observant of people
- Uses observed information to his benefit
Geoffrey Chaucer Criticizes:
- Overpowering greed of the middle class
- No passion for work
- Only having desire to have higher status
- Sneaky ways of business and conduct
- Dubious moral integrity
Virtues / Sins
- Pride/ Vanity
- Greed
- Envy
- Anger
Canterbury Tales Presentation: The Reeve
By Vivian Noh, Sharon Lee, and Makenna Toumaian