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Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the most influential authors of the late Middle Ages. He was born in London, England, but the exact date is unknown. Chaucer was probably the son of John Chaucer a tavern keeper, who was deputy to the king's butler. He may have gone t ....

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.... canon. The Reeve tells others in his tale of a miller who "was a thief ... of corn and meal, and sly at that; his habit was to steal" (Chaucer 125). The summoner in "The Friar's Tale" "drew large profits to himself thereby," and as the devil observes of him in this tale, "You're out for wealth, acquired no matter how" (Chaucer 312, 315). The miller is not shown as badly in "The Reeve's Tale" as the others, however; his trickery against the clerk is repaid when the clerk sleeps with his wife and daughter. In these three tales Chaucer shows how greed is present in all men. However, in "The Cleric's Tale," the wife of the lord Walter is patient a ....