ame can be said for the mother who so myrie a fit ne hadde she nat ful yore (I 4230). So even though John and Alan initiate the act with force, the women received pleasure, which cancels out the offense in the pil-grims minds. Thus, the characters and their satisfaction are mere tools used to create a de-sired result. The lack of expression exhibited by the actors in this scene is also related to the si-lencing of the Reeve. He is accustomed to being quieted when his thoughts are not agreeable to his audience. Because of this, he censors himself even as he is releasing all that is trapped inside of him. In his prologue, the Reeve does not keep speaking of the rapid progression of his demise, but changes subjects as soon as the Host orders him to do so, directing his emo-tion into the more acceptable form of his tale. Occasionally, the build up of feeling forces him to release it, but he always expresses them within the bounds of decency, even if he does stretch those bounds. It is necessary for the plot that the two couples have sex in the same room. He does not shy away from the subject and informs the audience of what is occurring as clearly as the Miller, if not more so. But Nicholas and Alison have intercourse downstairs in privacy, away from John. In the Reeves tale, a mother is committing adultery in the same room in which her daughter is having premarital sex. This can easily be construed as sexual perversion, to put it lightly. Yet the Reeve believes they can be somewhat redeemed if they are not aware they are participating in what amounts to an orgy. If the couples make no noise and do not hear one another, then, in a sense, they are in private. To have the clerks and women voice their pleasure and the mother and daughter realize the others actions would have been ...
