Such comments as, "I pray to God his nekke mote
             to-breke" quickly reveal that the verbal game of "quite"
             involves much more than a free meal to the Reeve in "The
             Canterbury Tales" (I 3918). This overreaction, which grabs
             the attention of the audience and gives it pause, is
             characteristic of the Reeve's ostensibly odd behavior, being
             given to morose speeches followed by violent outbursts, all
             the while harboring spiteful desires. Anger typifies the
             Reeve's dialogue and his tale, which begs the question why.
             It appears to be a reaction to the Miller's insults, but they
             are not extreme enough to provoke such resentment. He
             seem-ingly has no hesitation in articulating his bitterness,
             yet he and his story are as much marked by suppression as
             expression. Silence resounds as loudly as any noise in the
             Reeve's Prologue and Tale. The reader is as puzzled by his
             utterances as the lack of them: his sudden sermon on death
             is matched by the quietness of two couples copulating in a
             small room of five, none of which are able to hear what the
             others are doing. The reality is that the behavior of the
             Reeve and the characters in his tale are not random or
             unaccountable. The Reeve is continually si-lenced by other
             pilgrims and himself, which is paralleled in his tale, and in
             turn suppresses his emotions, which leads to even more
             In order to appreciate the melancholic and serious
             temperament of the Reeve, it is nec-essary to view him in
             comparison to other characters, as Chaucer intended. The
             identities of the pilgrims are relative. They are characterized
             by their description in the General Prologue, but not fully
             developed until they are seen in contrast to th...