Recasting the Canterbury Tales: Final

For my project, I chose to recast the Miller from the Canterbury Tales as a redneck. The Miller was singing, being very loud and probably had a few drinks. Most of the time, people do not want to associate themselves with rednecks, much like the way people would not tend to associate themselves with the Miller. This blue collar style of humor is why the Miller would make a good modern day redneck. In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer portrays the Miller as a slightly more crude and less dignified character compared to the rest of the company which is the reason why I chose to recast him as a modern day redneck. I felt that the Miller had the exact same sense of humor, morals and habits that one would relate to a redneck.

The characters in the tale would need to be updated to more modern types of people. The scholar could be updated to a Georgia Tech student, and the carpenter and the clerk could be UGA students. The much more intelligent Georgia Tech student would trick the Georgia students into doing something foolish while he did whatever he pleased. He would use his wit to try to get what he wanted but even his well laid out plans would fall apart in the end.

For the most part, the redneck’s tale would just be a modern version of the miller’s tale. It would just need to be updated to a more modern setting. Also, the hot poker would need to be changed to something more like a drunk person falling in a fire at a party. The part where the scholar tells the carpenter that the world is going to flood could be replaced with the Georgia Tech student convincing the Georgia student that their dorm was about to blow up and they needed to build a bomb shelter for themselves. While he is doing this, the Georgia Tech student would steal the Georgia student’s girlfriend. But, it is easily plausible that a redneck would tell a tale of this nature. It involves cheating and everything going bad for almost everyone.

The video shows what the new Miller would be more like. He would be very redneck and the songs he sings would offend some of the more high class people on the pilgrimage. The redneck is someone that people do not consider high class but they generally are fun to be around and can make some good stories up(especially when alcohol is involved). He would not have a problem with expressing his opinion on anything and he wouldn't care what anyone else thought of him. He just wants to have a good time and enjoy himself.

The video also has examples of how the redneck would live. This trashed room shows how the redneck isn't worried about his outward appearance to other people. It shows that he probably isn't too worried about hygiene and his personal appearance. He is more worried about just living life than dealing with anything that had no effect on his relaxation time or fun time. This carefree redneck lifestyle is exactly the way Chaucer describes the Miller from the Canterbury Tales.

Overall, the redneck is a good fit for the Miller. Chaucer wanted to make a character that wasn't afraid to say what he thought and who just wanted to have some fun even if it was by making fun of other people. He believed that if you wanted to do something, you should go out and do it. I tried to do this with the redneck. He should be a character that stands out from the other characters in the Canterbury Tales but still fit the persona that Chaucer created for the Miller.

Works Cited:

"larry the cable guy christmas carols." youtube. Web. 12 Feb 2010. .

"The Miller." The Canterbury Tales. Web. 12 Feb 2010. .