I think I speak for most of my colleagues when I say that every time I teach a text, even if I have taught it multiple times before, I always go back and reread it. And I always discover something new!
I have now taught "The Miller's Tale" twice in as many weeks. I'll be honest, I was surprised today by how many students in my British Lit class struggled to find the humor in this story because they were put off by its offensive content.
I want to be clear that what I am IN NO WAY questioning the validity of their reading experience. Chaucer, after all, anticipated this reaction. He expected folks to be perturbed by his language and his subject matter, and with good reason.
But what I have discovered in my most recent readings of this tale is more about today's world than Chaucer's. I am reminded of the ways that our society encourages self-censorship (despite simultaneously encouraging self-promotion) and discourages healthy discomfort - the kind of discomfort that makes us question who we are and why we live the way that we do.
Words have power - some more obviously so than others. Certain words elicit a strong reaction, and many of them appear in this tale (Queynte. Pisse. Toute.) But we shouldn't shy away from that power and refuse to use those words (well, obviously there are times and places). Rather, we should consider why those words have that power. Why do they make us uncomfortable? And we must remember that those words don't have power over us, but are instead within our own power to catalog our world.
The Miller, either because his drunkenness has lowered his inhibitions or because it's just the kind of "cherl" he is, certainly is unafraid of using those words. Are we going to let ourselves be bested by him? I say no. Because his words are a sign of his willingness to tell it like it is: the world isn't a courtly romance. Emelye isn't necessarily thrilled with the giant tournament to determine her fate. People may commend a "noble tale," but they also can (and should!) enjoy a hearty laugh at a fart joke - especially one as well-wrought and intricately told as this one.
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| http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-can-hath-cheezburger.html |
THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT EASY (although all you are risking from the 4th is an '80s flashback).
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/tpD4ZPamt68
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Words: I don't have an answer, only thoughts. When I was young, when my father used a particular curse word as a descriptive of me, I became nothing every time. I use that word quite a lot, many people do, and I barely notice it except when it was wielded by my father. What I learned as a girl was that men have power, and part of that power comes from using powerful curse words. So I taught myself to speak like a man, not a lady. When I was 18, people were just starting to talk about sex abuse. One of the problems with kids telling was that they literally did not have the vocabulary to say what was wrong. So when I raised my son I made sure he knew his words. On the other hand, when he was young I discovered that many of my favorite songs had curse words and censored my listening habits. Being an English major I taught my son the correct definitions and history for all the curse words. But when he was in 3rd grade, and had already encountered some adult curse words, the absolute worst word that he knew in his opinion was the "s" word--"stupid". To know how important language is all you have to do is look at how hard many colonizing nations worked to erase native languages. Look at what happened in the middle ages when the vernacular became considered ok for high class writing. See how empowered people became. There are words associated with the destruction of an entire class of people that will never be ok for casual conversation. And I firmly believe we should never fear or hide from a word, words only get their power from us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about all this, BUT it is important to member that most of the naughty words used by GC/Miller are not directed at a person in any way. For example. no one is calling Alisoun a "queynte." It's important to remember the distinction in the different ways those powerful words can be used.
ReplyDeleteArgh. REmember...
DeleteI think that for me, the discomfort for the word "queynte" doesn't come from how the Miller or Chaucer is using it but from the modern day usage as a heavily derogatory gendered insult. While I do understand that in the context it isn't used towards anyone, I find that it still bothers me because I'm having trouble disconnecting the modern usage to the way he uses it.
DeleteGood point about the direction of the word usage. Although some of my censoring around my son was simple word usage-"fuck" as an intensifier for example. I know on the word usage scale I tend to be more on the liberal earthy side, so I was trying to access the parts of me that are less liberal and comfortable.
ReplyDeletestupid Internet cut me off. In any case, live all together in a one or two room house and in a place where lots of non-neutered animals are about, and where there isn't decent plumbing or sewage systems, and anyone will become comfortable with earthy stuff.
ReplyDeleteTeaching in a small Christian school I have had many opportunities to have this discussion with offended students sometimes, but mainly with offended parents. I explain that 'offensive' words fall into 3 categories: the profane, the scatological and words having to do with sex. I go on to explain that the reason we can feel offended by certain words has much more to do with the Victorians than the Bible or even the Puritans, who could be quite earthy. Martin Luther probably wrote more about his intestinal gas than any writer who ever lived. I am truly offended when I hear people using the name of Jesus as a curse, but I can't be offended by the language of a time and society that was -- earthy (sorry to use the word twice!) We have taken our kids to Plymouth Plantation twice, and both times I heard a visitor asking a pilgrim where they 'went to the bathroom'. Miles Standish's wife relied: "I have a bucket. The men piss on the wall." She didn't flinch, but several visitors did. If you want to learn about the culture in 1620, don't be shocked that they were different than us, yes? Another example is the writing of St. Paul. He writes that our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to the righteousness of Christ. The original term used was 'menstrual rags', but that has been 'cleaned up in translation.
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