The Handmaid's Tale Figurative Speech

two students. In addition, John and Aleyn leave with their cake (Chaucer 60-66). In analyzing this tale, we find that through literal and figurative speech, the reeve shows us that women are commodities that men use. By doing so, he suggests that relations with women in the world where Symkyn lives have a social value. Furthermore, we can read this tale as a social commentary on the roles of men and women in this type of community. The figurative speech used in the first passage suggests that women are commodities that men can use to deprive another male of his manhood. Lines 4313-4318 state, Thus is the proude millere wel ybete, And hath ylost the gryndynge of the whete, And payed for the soper everideel Of Aleyn and of John, …show more content…
In this text, the reeve is referring to the miller’s loss of grinding of the wheat. What makes us think we need to examine its connotation? First of all, if we interpret it literally, we would think that Symkyn lost ground wheat in the process. But did he truly lose any of his ground grain? There was no mention in the tale that the miller’s flour was spilled or wasted. The only thing that Symkyn lost was the half a bushel meal that he stole from John and Aleyn. Hence, we can argue that he did not lose anything for he did not own it in the first place. This forces us to examine what the reeve is trying to imply through the metaphor. It is known that gryndynge of the whete is a slang term for sexual intercourse. Combining this with ylost, we see that Symkyn had lost sexual intercourse, which makes sense because he was cuckolded. If we look deeper, though, this phrase indicates something more serious. It shows that the miller lost his manhood. How does the reeve define manhood in his tale? Lines 3956 to 3960 give us a clue on what characteristics are expected in an adult man like Symkyn. The text informs us that manhood is all about protecting the females in the family, especially the wives, from men who would want to either flirt or have sex with them. Nobody, for instance, would touch Symkyn’s wife. Men are afraid of the miller, and their fear is rational. Symkyn has various tools to punish …show more content…
Aside from marriage, the term relations is defined as sexual intercourse. John and Aleyn, for example, had relations with the females in Symkin’s household via sex, as stated in line 4317 (66). What is the social value of this type of interaction with females? They can either improve or worsen how men are perceived in their community. In the case of the scholars, having coitus with Malyne and her mother allowed them to have their dignity back. The miller stole from them and even untied their college warden’s horse. To go back home without taking revenge on Symkyn would make them the laughingstock at their college. Take, for example, John’s reason for tricking the wife to sleep with him. Lines 4207-4208 tell us that John does not want to be considered a weakling or even a fool by his comrades, so he is going to get up and do something (64). John believes that having sexual relations with the miller’s wife is the only way to undo the tarnishing of his reputation. In the case of the miller, however, having his daughter raped by Aleyn made his reputation even worse. He is already known as a thief, but now he is recognized as the father of someone who had premarital sex. Symkyn’s society places high value on the virginity of daughters. How do we know that this is the case? Line 3944 implies that virginity is one of the prerequisites of