The presentation of the two characters is also influenced by the purpose of the two stories which is largely different. ‘The Miller’s Tale’ is mainly told to amuse and entertain the Canterbury pilgrims. Due to this purpose we do not really feel any great sympathy towards the carpenter, and can find his treatment amusing due to the unbelievable context of the tale. However, the purpose of ‘Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet’ is to present the reader with entertaining yet moral observations of the nature of human kind. In this respect we can sympathise with Bernard in a number of ways, due to his health and physical and mental capabilities, that fact that he is annoyed and bored with his controlling sister, and also the way he is manipulated by his helper.
The ways in which Miss Fozzard and the Miller use relayed speech of the two characters affects the way in which they are viewed by the reader. In ‘The Miller’s Tale’, we do not often hear direct speech from John the Carpenter. The use of direct speech gives a prominence and emphasis to the speaker’s point of view, but as this is rare in the case of John his own individuality and points of view are restricted. This again lessens the sympathy the reader has towards the character. However, when the Miller does convey direct speech of the carpenter it has the affect of heightening the state of mental disturbance and frenzy that the carpenter is in due to the plot devised by Nicholas. An example of this is, “ I crouche thee from elves and fro wightes.” Here, the speech of Nicholas emphasises his dismay and shows his state of mind, amusing the audience at his talk about elves and sprites. Therefore John is portrayed as a feeble, pathetic character. Nicholas has far more direct speech and is obviously the dominant speaker in exchanges between Nicholas and John, who is largely a passive listener. This is seen when Nicholas begins to involve John in his plot. He has many lines of speech whereas John only cries out things such as “Allas, my wyf.”
Bernard’s attitudes come through in the story by the existence of non- verbal actions, which is especially expressed in ‘Bernard suddenly throws back his head and yawns.’ This seems quite rude of Bernard, and this is intensified by the use of the adverb, ‘suddenly’ which suggests a purposeful action. As he cannot at this stage talk, his actions are prominent in the presentation of his character. However, when he does begin to regain his power of speech, it is amusing that his first word is, “cow” and this is aimed at his sister. This reinforces with language the conflict we have previously seen by the use of the yawn. The fact that his first word is considered to be “a breakthrough” has connotations of a child for Bernard, which effectively reduces his status, and emphasises the way that he is treated by others. It is evident that in both cases Miss Fozzard recognises the insult but tries to ignore it. However, after both of these actions there is a fade in the monologue. This signifies that Miss Fozzard is reflecting on Bernard’s actions. This presents Bernard in a way that he affects Miss Fozzard more than she likes to let on, therefore he is a more prominent character than we first thought.
Both of the characters seem to be ruled by others around them. Nicholas, although he is younger than the carpenter effectively controls his behaviour. This is especially seen in the ending of ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ John immediately believes the lies that Nicholas is telling him, showing his naivety, but also his trusting nature. However, this seems to contrast to an early presentation of him, as he does not seem to trust his wife, and treats her like a caged animal, “jalous he was, and heeld hire narwe in a cage.” John’s passive nature is expressed by Nicholas’ use of imperatives such as “go gete us faste” The way that he orders John to do things in a direct, immediate and also rude and disrespecting manner, emphasizes the relationship between the two, as John does not argue and follows the orders of someone who is younger than himself. The carpenter is subservient to Nicholas, which reduces his status and we begin to see the emergence of a master and servant relationship when John does exactly as he is told to do. The carpenter is also easily led by persuasive comments such as, it is “Goddes Privetee.” John is easily encourages not to tell anyone about the flood by the input of a religious order, which he will not break.
In the same way Bernard cannot do a lot for himself so in that way he is also left under the control and supervision of others. He is dependent on others, especially in the beginning of the monologue, which is expressed by verbs such as “propped up in a chair” This suggests that his position has been induced by others. He is also diminished by the fact that he is helped by two women, in the same way that John is controlled by someone younger than himself. He is presented as being rather ‘vacant’ in his behaviour at first he is “staring at the T.V” The passive verb emphasizes this. However, he improvement is shown by Miss Fozzard’s use of the verb ‘watching’ and we see a change in his behaviour due to the active verb.
The epithet used to describe the character of the carpenter is “sely”. The repetition of this phrase effectively instils an image of the carpenter into the reader’s mind. We are influenced by this and take the persistent views as fact. It is also emphasized by the contrasting epithet used to describe Nicholas, “hende Nicholas.” This further diminishes the status of the carpenter as he is portrayed in a far less favourable light by the Miller, than essentially his ‘rival.’ The Miller also repeatedly makes reference to the term, “wood” which means ‘mad,’ an example being “crien ‘water’ as if he were wood” This essentially becomes the way in which John the carpenter is ridiculed by Alison and Nicholas at the end of the tale. The Miller explains that people in the village “in ronnen for to gauren on this man” they ran to stare at him. Again, Nicholas is held in higher status than John at the end where Nicolas was “anonright heeld with oother” so the people of the town believed a student over John the carpenter.
In the same way that the epithet is used by the Miller, the way in which Miss Fozzard refers to Bernard in comparison to other characters, also influences the reader’s view of Bernard. Miss Fozzard refers to her brother by first name terms only, which on the surface may seem to indicate a close relationship between the two characters. However, when we compare this to her references to other characters, she essentially uses their surnames, such as in the case of “Mr. Dunderdale.” This shows formality and respect for the character, in turn reducing the respect she has for Bernard. This is further reduced at the end of the monologue when she says “He’s worse this time than the last.” Here Bernard is not even given a name, and is simply referred to by a pronoun, showing her informality and lack of respect and want to dwell on her brother. She also says “eyes used to follow you,” This statement objectifies Bernard as he is referred to by body parts, therefore diminishing his identity and individuality.
The syntax used by each of the narrators also adds to the presentation of the characters. The lack of cohesion in Miss Fozzard’s speech when talking about Bernard, for example, “log. Same rigmarole, though. Talk to him,” portrays her hesitancy as her speech is not fluent. This communicates her feelings about Bernard, and that she feels like she is stuck in a situation she cannot get out of, as she has to again, look after Bernard, when he seemed to be getting better. However, in ‘The Miller’s tale, a non- cohesive syntax is used by the Miller to portray the state of despair felt by the carpenter, and it emphasizes how he loses his self control. This can be seen throughout he speech, for example, the carpenter cries “what! Nicholay! What, how! What, look Adoun! As well as there being no cohesion or structure to John’s utterances, the way in which the Miller describes the manner in which he says it, adds to the dismay of the carpenter. He apparently cries violently, which suggests that the carpenter has lost control and gone mad.
Although on the surface these two tales and styles of writing seem very different, the two story-tellers, Miss Fozzard and the Miller, use a number of similar methods and styles of writing to portray the two characters. However the main difference being the lexis used in the tales. This is ultimately influenced by the time in which they were written. The Miller’s portrayal of the carpenter seems to be far more eccentric and exaggerated due to the heightened, archaic language it is written in, than Miss Fozzard’s quite formal register.
