The+Miller

A [|miller] is someone one who works in a mill. Mills were an invention of the era and were built tp pump water and grind grain. The village mill housed a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. The[| work]they did had to be approxmately 3 days each week on the land designated to the lord of the manor. They also had to make certain [|payments], either in money or more often in grain, honey, eggs, or other produce. In order to have the things you wanted, such as flour, you had to grow wheat and then use that for flour. You couldn't jsut go to the store and expect to have it all done for you. When you weren't working on the land that was your time to get all the things done you needed for your family and your food.
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[|The mille]r worked until the last light of day, when the flames died in the fireplace or the wax of the candles melted down low. The miller told stories to keep people from coming around the mill at night to discover his secrets, like how he practiced his [|trade]. The [|millstones] may be only uncovered at night and the itinerant millstone dresser may only dress them at night by candle light. A dishonest miller might have an extra hidden [|chute] that came from the millstones so he could gradually steal part of the customers grain. During Medieval times you (as a peasant) had to take your grain to the Lords, Abbotts, or Kings mill. The miller was just an employee of the master. If you were found hiding a hand [|quern] (a small pair of millstones powered by hand to grind grain), they would be taken and broken, and you hanged. A lot of people wanted to set up the Feudal System in Early America.

The Miller is a character of commanding[| physical presence]: he is a massive man who excels in such displays of strength as wrestling matches, and breaking doors "at a renning with his heed". He has a huge beard, wide nostrils, a vast mouth and a conspicuous wart, crowned by a tuft of hairs likened in colour to the bristles of a sow's ears. By stressing the Miller's physical attributes, Chaucer suggests to the reader the idea of a down-to-earth man who takes pleasure in satisfying basic appetites. Such a [|cliché]would only supply half the picture; though the Miller is a man of down-to-earth outlook and physical pleasure, he is a very intelligent man. His narrative style, if less complex and conventionally sophisticated than the Knight's, is masterly in its realism, economy and control, especially of the humorous elements.

What specific occupation does your chatacter practice? The miller's occupation is to pump water and grind grain, making breads.
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What does the need for this occupation tell us about the time period? That the people working in the mill's needed the money and it was all done by hand making. You couldnt go to the store to purchase what you needed.

What was his or her social standing? Most likley very poor, needed money a lot of the times for bread. They were classfiied as low social standing.

What might your character's day to day life be like? As soon as the sun comes up you would be working outside the mill or inside depending on what your job was. It would be working early mornings till late nights. Grinding the grain, working on the water pumps, and making bread were some of the basic things you did every day.

What details about this character does Chaucer not include? They do not talk about what kind of job he had or about his family and what they were like. The age is not mentioned either, nor where he might be living at.

What modern day occupation might correspond to your medieval character and why? Today they're things such as a Bakery, Bread Factory, and a a machine that grinds feed for animals, such as, cows, horses, pigs, goats, etc. Things like this would be similar to what they had in the middle ages, just a lot more technology in todays world.

The miller was a strong man, you should know, Courageous and very muscular and boney; You could tell he was muscular and When he went on to fight at wrestling, Never failed as he was giving heavy blows (5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He wasn’t fat, but not skinny, very big <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He would rip the door off the hinged if he wanted
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Or run through the door and slam his head through it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">His beard was as red as a fox with red fur. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He had a big shovel (10) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Dealing with his big nose he had a wart, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">And on that wart there were hairs <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">As red as the tough hairs in a swine (pig)’s ears <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He had a wide and black nose hole (nostrils) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A sword and shield by his side (15) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">His mouth was big and was warm <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He was a joker who could write poetry <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Be was nothing but bad, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He could steel corn and sell it for three times as much <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He was very generous (20) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He was a young boy dressed in a white coat and blue hood <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">He could play the bagpipe very well, you should know, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">And as they left town he played. The lines that best describe our character's physical appearance are, 11 & 12 The lines that describe his personality are, 19 & 20 The specific words that add to our understanding of our characters personality are, generous, sin, (nothing but bad.)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What is Chaucer's opinion toward this character? Chaucer describes him as being very big of bone and a chunky fellow. He talks about his looks and describes him as how he appears to himself.
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What specific lines or words tell you this? In The Miller, it talks about how hes very good at playing the Bagpipe. " A bagpipe he could blow well, be it known, And with that same he brought us out of town.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What word choices require an understanding of vocabulary from the time period? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[|Churl:]A rude, boorish, or surly person. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Tuft: a bunch or cluster of small, usually soft and flexible parts, as feathers or hairs, attached or fixed closely together at the base and loose at the upper ends. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Buckler: a round shield held by a grip and sometimes having straps through which the arm is passed. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Ribaldries: ribald character, as of language; scurrility. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">