The Miller's Tale Chaucer

?

Character: John

cAmong the first things we learn about John is that, because he has married a much younger wife, he's constantly afraid that she'll cheat on him. Consequently, says the narrator, he's extremely jealous about Alisoun, keeping her on a tight leash. Yet John's actions actually contradict this characterization. When, for example, John hears Absolon serenading Alisoun outside their window, his only response is to ask her if she hears it too, and let the matter rest at that. Now, wouldn't a truly jealous husband be likely to punish the offending

John doesn't seem so much jealous of Alisoun as devoted to her. Listening to Nicholas's forecast of a catastrophic flood, John's first concern is for his wife: "Allas my wif! / And shal she drenche? Allas, myn Alisoun!" (414-415). As he makes his preparations for the flood, he's almost brought to his knees in despair by the image of her drowning

Describe John's devotion to Alisoun: stupid. And indeed, this is John's other main character trait. After all, he believes Nicholas's outlandish story about an imminent flood and obeys to the letter Nicholas's instructions about how to handle it, never for a moment thinking to question Nicholas's motives or character. The ending as meting out punishment to the various characters in proportion to their sins. Yet John upsets this calculus: his only sin is not being born with brains. In this, he is typical of the stereotypical portrayal of a lower-class person in estates satire.

1 of 8

John's Timeline

  • John is the first character to whom we are introduced in "The Miller's Tale." We learn that he is a well-to-do carpenter who lives in Oxford, has married a much younger wife, and rents a room in his house to scholars.
  • When Nicholas locks himself in his room, John is very concerned about him and performs an "exorcism" on him.
  • John believes Nicholas's story about an impending flood and takes his advice about how to prepare for it by buying three tubs, stocking them with food, and hanging them from the rafters of his house.
  • John climbs into his tub the next night, only to hang there alone and fast asleep, while Nicholas has sex with his wife in their marital bed.
  • When John hears Nicholas shout "Water!" he thinks the flood is upon them and cuts the rope attaching his tub to the ceiling, taking a nasty fall.
  • The townspeople gather around the fallen John and mock him. All the clerks in the town say he is "wood," or crazy.
2 of 8

Character: Alison

Alisoun, John's wife, Nicholas's lover, and a reputed local beauty, is the only character in "The Miller's Tale" who goes apparently unpunished at its conclusion.

In her portrait at the beginning of the tale the narrator describes her using a Litersary device called BLAZON.. A typical blazon might compare woman's eyes to the stars, her hair to golden flax. Alisoun's blazon compares the parts of her body to decidedly less glamorous things: her body is like a weasel's, her song like a barn-swallow's, her spirit like young colt's.What's up with all the animal comparisons? The best clue comes with the last one: she is a "piggesnye [tender chicken]/ for any lord to leggen in his bede" (160-161) This comparison links Alisoun's animal nature to sexuality – animals are unable to control their lust and so, we assume, is Alisoun. Another important aspect of this blazon is its description of Alisoun's "lendes," or loins, or the place where her shoelaces end high on her legs. By drawing the reader's attention to Alisoun's most sexual parts and describing her in animalistic language, the blazon makes Alisoun's sexuality her main character trait.  "she had a likerous eye" (136). Alisoun is a lustful young thing.  Alisoun's only confirms it. She takes up with Nicholas after only the tiniest protest, even going so far as to subject her husband to trickery and humiliation in order to spend the night with Nicholas in their bed. These metaphors turn her into an animal that's meant to be ravaged by the men around her, rather than a person who makes her own decisions about her sexuality

 Alison's character borrows a lot from misogynistic stereotypes about women, which portrayed them as dangerously lustful liars and cheats. The interesting thing about her portrait, though, is the way it not only compares her to animals, but also to animals that are attacked by predators.

3 of 8

Alison's Timeline

Alisoun is the third character the narrator describes in "The Miller's Tale." We learn that she is John's much younger wife, and that she's a local beauty. One day, when John has gone away, Nicholas propositions Alisoun. After a brief protest, she accepts, and the two begin an affair.A short time later, Absalom notices Alisoun in the parish church and falls in love with her.Alisoun rejects all of Absolon's attempts to woo her. Alisoun agrees to go along with Nicholas's plan to trick John.When John tells Alisoun about Nicholas's prophecy, she encourages him to make the preparations Nicholas has advised.While her husband is hanging from the rafters of their house, Alisoun has sex with Nicholas in her marital bed.When Absalom appears that night at her window, shortly before dawn, and asks for a kiss, Alisoun humiliates him by presenting her buttocks instead of her lips, causing him to kiss her "hole."Alisoun joins Nicholas in running around the street in a panic when John has fallen from the rafters.With Nicholas, she convinces the townspeople that gather around the scene that John is an idiot.

4 of 8

Character: Nicholas

Nicholas is the poor young scholar who rents a room in John's house. He sets his sights on Alisoun and fairly quickly manages to get her into bed. Nicholas is the mover and shaker behind most of the action in the tale: it's he who seduces Alisoun and tricks John into sleeping in a tub so he can spend the night with her. Nicholas takes a hot poker to the **** when his rival Absalom shows up at Alisoun's window intent on revenge. Based on Nicholas's prior behavior, it's tempting to say he had it coming.

Given his sexual prowess it is suprising nicholas isnt macho.  Some people think that the feminizing of Nicholas culminates in the scene in which he gets branded by a hot poker. Think about it: you have a phallic (penis-shaped) object invading a very suggestive region of Nicholas's body.

Apparently he has already had some success of predicting weather

and perhaps it's John's knowledge of Nicholas's reputation as a fortune-teller that leads him to believe without question his prophesy of an impending flood. But Nicholas's desire to know the future is a form of hubris (pride): by desiring this knowledge he's taking upon himself powers that should belong only to God. This trait coincides with Nicholas's position as the tale's "command giver": in demanding Alisoun's body and John's obedience, he makes himself into a God figure. What, then, are we to make of the tale's ending, in which the once alpha Nicholas finds himself at the receiving end of a hot poker?

5 of 8

Nicholas' Timeline

  • Nicholas is the second character the narrator introduces. We learn that he is a poor scholar who boards with John.
  • Nicholas gets the action of the tale started when he sets his sights on Alisoun and successfully seduces her.
  • Nicholas conspires to trick John so that he can have an uninterrupted night in bed with Alisoun.
  • He spends all weekend in his room, and when a worried John sends a servant to check on him, he pretends to be in a supernatural trance.
  • When John questions him, Nicholas tells him that he's had a vision of a huge flood. John should prepare for it, Nicholas says, by hanging tubs stocked with food from the rafters and spending the night in one, so that when the flood comes, he can just cut the rope and float away.
  • While John sleeps in his tub, Nicholas has sex with Alisoun in John's bed.
  • When Absolon, angered at being tricked into kissing Alisoun's ****, returns to the window bent on revenge, Nicholas tries to get in on the joke by sticking his ****ocks out the window. Instead, he gets branded by Absolon's hot poker.
  • In terrible pain, Nicholas cries out for water to douse the heat.
  • When John goes crashing to the floor, Nicholas runs into the street shouting in a panic.
  • When the townspeople gather at the scene, Nicholas helps Alisoun convince them that John is a crazy idiot
6 of 8

Character : Absalon

The millers tale gives us a second student in love with the parish clerk Absolon. Like Nicholas's portrait, Absolon's makes him seem somewhat effeminate: he has curly golden hair, which he carefully parts down the middle, and he wears a blue tunic over red hose "fetisly," or prettily, laced.

It's important that he's described as extremely tidy and fastidious and pays great attention to his personal grooming. He always makes sure that his hair is combed nicely, his breath smells sweet, and his shirt is free from wrinkles. With this fastidious personality comes a phobia important to the plot: Absolon is "somdeel squaymous / Of fartyng" (229-230), or disgusted by farting, a point that becomes very important at the end of the story.

 He uses his artistic talents to try to impress Alisoun, singing and playing outside her window and taking a major dramatic role in the local play.

The speed with which Absolon's devotion turns to anger, though, makes us think his desire for her – despite being couched in romantic terms – is not love but lust. In fact, Absolon's role in the plot may be to serve as another face of lust – another shape it can take. In contrast to Nicholas, who doesn't bother to disguise his true motives when he roughly grabs Alisoun and has his way with her, Absolon expresses his lust with the same romantic conventions we see in "The Knight's Tale." When he waits for his kiss and hopes it will be followed by sex, his true motives are revealed. This unmasks not only Absolon but also the courtly love language he's so fond of using. Nicholas and Absolon turn out to be two sides of the same coin: they may be calling it different things, but both of these guys are looking for sex.

7 of 8

Absolon Timeline

  • Absolon first sees Alisoun among the other wives of the parish church and immediately falls for her.
  • We learn that Absolon is a fastidious parish clerk with a penchant for the arts and a disgust for farting.
  • Absolon begins his courtship of Alisoun by singing love songs outside her window. He sends her gifts and takes a role in a local play in an attempt to impress her.
  • Absolon inquires about John's whereabouts and learns that no one has seen him all day long.
  • He resolves to court Alisoun again, saying that his mouth is itchy (which he takes as a sign it needs to be kissed), and that he recently had a dream about a feast, both of which he interprets as meaning he's about to get lucky.
  • Absolon positions himself at Alisoun's window and begs for her love. When she refuses, he asks for just a kiss.
  • Absolon kisses Alisoun's bare **** when she sticks it out the window to play a joke on him.
  • Angry, Absolon borrows a poker from the nearby blacksmith.
  • He returns to Alisoun's window and, thinking it's Alison, brands Nicholas with the hot poker.
8 of 8

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Chaucer resources »