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Summary and Analysis of The Miller's Tale
Prologue to the Miller's Tale: When the Knight had finished, everybody decided that he had told a noble story. The drunken Miller claims that he has a tale as noble as the one the Knight had told. The host tried to quiet the Miller, but he demanded to speak. He claims that he will tell the tale of a carpenter and his wife. His tale will be one of infidelity. The narrator attempts to apologize for the tale that will follow, admitting that the Miller is not well-bred and will therefore tell a bawdy tale. AnalysisIt is in the prologues to the various tales that Chaucer comments on the tales that his characters have told. This serves as an internal critique of the tales that Chaucer has written. In this prologue, the Miller constructs the author's reaction to the Knight's Tale. The Miller mocks the noble messages of the Knight's Tale, and prepares to tell a tale that he finds equally uplifting. The tale that will follow is unreservedly bawdy and lowbrow, a necessary antidote to the oppressive sense of epic honor that permeates the stodgy Knight's tale. The Canterbury Tales offer Chaucer an opportunity for experimentation, for he has created characters who create their own stories. Therefore the stories are not simply an extension of Geoffrey Chaucer's imagination. The story of Palamon and Arcite is a tale that a man such as the Knight might tell; the inflated pomposity of the tale is a deliberate move by Chaucer, purposely adhering to the Knight's personality even at some dramatic and narrative expense. This also affords Chaucer the opportunity to engage in forms of disreputable humor, as the Miller's Tale will demonstrate. Chaucer even separates himself from the tale that the Miller has told, claiming that it comes from the imagination of a vulgar and indecent man who is nevertheless entirely Chaucer's creation. The Miller's Tale: There was once an old oaf living in Oxford who took in boarders. Now living with him was a poor student who studied astrology (astronomy) named Nicholas. He was sly, demure and well-versed in love. The carpenter had wed a much younger wife and Alison. She was fair and slim, good enough for any lord to have as a mistress or any yeoman to honestly wed. While John the carpenter was away, Nicholas made a pass at Alison, then proclaimed his love for her. She warned him that her husband was jealous, but swore that she would meet him when she could do so safely. One day Alison was heading to the parish when she met Absolon, a jolly man known for singing and playing guitar. That night he came to Alison's home to serenade her, for he had fallen in love. Alison could only laugh at Absolon's attempts to woo her, for she loved Nicholas. One Saturday when John had gone to Oseney, Nicholas and Alison agreed that he should use his wit to trick the carpenter. If their ruse worked, then Alison would be free to spend the entire night with Nicholas. Nicholas spent an entire day confined alone in his room, and the carpenter wondered what was wrong. He told John that he had been studying his astrology and found that there will be a downpour equal to Noah's flood, and in less than an hour the world shall drown. Nicholas tells John to get three kneading tubs that the three can use as boats. The tubs shall be placed on the roof so that they will remain unseen. When the rain comes, only Nicholas, John and Alison shall survive. John believed Nicholas and did as he instructed. The three went up on the roof that night, and when John fell asleep Nicholas and Alison left to have sex. The next morning right before dawn, Absolon went to serenade Alison. She tells Absolon to leave, but he persists. She agrees to one kiss, and tells him to close his eyes then she pulls down her pants and he kisses her rear end. Nicholas and Alison mock Absolon, who leaves embarrassed. He went to a nearby blacksmith and borrowed a hot forging iron. When he returned, he asked for another kiss. This time, Nicholas strips to have Absolon kiss him, and even intends to fart in his face but Absolon instead burns his behind with the forging iron. Nicholas cried for water, waking John, who thought that the flood had come and cut the rope holding the tub. John fell from the roof. The entire town came to see what had happened. They declared that John had gone mad and laughed over the proceedings. Each man got his punishment John was injured and declared insane, Absolon was humiliated, and Nicholas burned. Analysis: The Miller's Tale takes the form of a fabliau, a familiar medieval literary genre that concerned the bourgeois and vulgar classes. The traditional form of a fabliau concerns a bourgeois husband who is duped into aiding a clever young man receive sexual favors from his wife. The young sexual intruder is typically a student or cleric and thus belongs to no definable class. These tales were not simply a middle- and lower- class diversion; elite audiences of Chaucer's time appreciated the tales for painting condescending and vulgar portraits of the lower orders. The tale even acknowledges these class differences. The Miller remarks that Alison would be acceptable as a yeoman's wife, but she could also be the lowly mistress of a lord. The elite viewpoint also is reinforced by the character of Nicholas. He is the one educated character, and it is his intelligence and scholarship that give him the advantage over the uneducated ruffian that is the carpenter. The Miller's Tale takes the traditional form of the fabliau, but it also approximates the structure of the Knight's Tale. The Miller's Tale is a gross parody of the Knight's moralistic story, bringing the tale down to lower orders and stripping it of the honor and chivalry that marked the Knight's story. Like the story that preceded it, the Miller's Tale concerns a romantic struggle that ends with each of the parties receiving what they deserve. However, the romantic protagonists in the Miller's tale are a foolish young man, a cunning student, and a cuckolded husband, not the interchangeable and indistinguishable knights. Both tales also rely on convenient coincidences that drive the plot, such as the sudden appearance of Theseus in the Knight's Tale and the shout "water" that awakens the carpenter in the Miller's Tale. Whereas the Knight's tale prizes morality and piety toward the gods, the Miller's Tale values different attributes. Courtly romantic love is mocked mercilessly; Absolon, the one suitor whose behavior would fit traditional romantic standards, is the victim of Alison's scorn and receives only one vulgar 'kiss' for his efforts. In the tale, Absolon's romantic affectations mark him as foolish and effeminate. The Miller sarcastically notes how Absolon combed his curly blond hair to prepare himself for Alison, a parody of courtly love and romance for which the Miller has no use. The steadfast devotion that John the carpenter holds for his wife is equally subject to derision. It is love for his wife that causes John to be tricked by Nicholas into taking tubs onto the roof. Only Nicholas does not suffer for his romantic pursuits. He does not court Alison rather, in his first encounter with her Nicholas grabs her crotch before even speaking. Nicholas only receives a form of punishment when he attempts to trick Absolon with a 'kiss' for the second time, and in this occasion Nicholas suffers not because he has broken any moral codes, but because he was foolish to try the same trick twice. Only Alison escapes any form of retribution, for she is the one who is consistently cunning and wily. She receives no punishment for her infidelity, while the characters who are the most overtly virtuous (John and Absolon) are the ones who suffer the most. The Miller's tale thus prizes the characters who are the most shrewd rather than those who hold more sentimental emotions or obey traditional standards of behavior.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
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