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“THE MILLER’S TALE”
(GEOFFREY CHAUCER)
,.
“Social and Religious Taboos in
Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale”
by Robert C. Evans,
Auburn University at Montgomery
Although the word “taboo” did not exist in Geoffrey Chaucer’s
fourteenth-century English culture, the general concept of taboo
behavior certainly did. Indeed, the broad notion of behavior (including
speech) that is forbidden, condemned, prohibited, and/or proscribed
by society as improper or unacceptable has probably existed in every
human culture, even if precise definitions of taboo topics, objects,
conduct, or forms of speech have varied widely from place to place
and across time. Cultures define themselves, in large part, in terms of
what they prohibit, condemn, or find unacceptable, and thus the study
of taboo behavior is, paradoxically, one of the best ways of comprehending
a culture’s deepest and most cherished standards as well as
its most widely shared assumptions and beliefs. By understanding
what a culture condemns, we can understand what it values. Like a
photographic negative that can provide a positive image, the study of
taboo thoughts, behavior, and speech can illuminate a culture’s most
fundamental ideals.
Probably no character in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales violates
more taboos—both in conduct and in speech—than the Miller.
Indeed, people long after Chaucer’s era have had trouble dealing with
the Miller’s abrasive personality and his scandalous tale [V 12–26]. 1
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