The Milleres Tale - The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Miller's Tale

Geoffery Chaucer - Late 1300s 

The Canterbury Tales are written accounts of different stories told during a mass pilgramage to visit the grave of Thomas Becket in Canterbury - a cardinal who was later made a saint. Tales were told as part of a competition started at Tabard Inn in Southwark, London where the pilgramage began. The author of the best tale told during the journey would receive a free meal at the Inn on return to London. Pilgrims from all walks of life tell tales as part of Chaucer's story: including a knight, cook, lawyer, friar, clerk, squire, physician, monk and a parson to name a few. The tale I will analyse is that of the Miller.

Chaucer was writing during the medieval period. The texts written at this time were largely of moral cause; closesly linked with the religious devotion that was so deeply rooted in society at the time, tales created to be told to the illiterate masses. That is one of the reasons why Chaucer's work is so celebrated and rare; most of the population did not know how to read or write at the time it was written. This is why Chaucer portrays his characters telling the stories out loud to an audience as part of oral tradition of storytelling and the entire tale is written in rhyming couplets as a rhythmic device made apparent through the spoken word. 

Chaucer gives a short description of the miller before his tale begins. He is described as stocky and strong ("Ful big he was of brawm, and eek of bones." "He was short-sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre"),  brutish, "There was no dore that he nold heve of harre, Or breke it at a renning with his heed" (There was no door he could not heave off its hinges, or break it by bashing it with his head), and a gossip "His mouth as greet was as a greet forneys" - a furnace mirroring the heated chatter which came from his mouth "he was a janglere and a goliardeys" that was mostly about scandal and sin "was mosst of sinne and harlotries". He's also described as being a bit of a crook "kouse he stelen corn and tollen thries" who knew how to make money "he hadde a thombe of golde". 

He's also described as having marched the pilgrims out of town to the music of his bagpipes.

The Miller's tale tells a story of love, lust and deceit of a girl, named Alisoun. Alisoun married a much older man (Jon the carpenter) and has an affair with a handsome, vain clerk (Nicholas) who's sole goal, it seems, is to woo ladies into bed. She is also the subject of the rather awkward, but none the less enthusiastic clerk "Absolon" who also tries to win her affections. The Miller's tale is full of humour and bawdy details about sex and lust. 

Jon the carpenter is petrified of his young beautiful wife cheating on him and him becoming cast a "cokeowld", which is a man whose wife has cheated on him. 
"For she was wilde and yong and he was old
And demed himself ben lyk a cokewold" 

"She was a prymerole, a piggesnye, 
For any lord to leggen in his bedde, 
Or yet for any good yeman to wedde" 
Here Alisoun is described as a darling pig's eye, which, with Chaucer's wit is seen to be of utmost beauty and specialty - fit for any lord to sleep with. Chaucer takes the mick out of courtly love her a bit - usually something exercised by knights and lords, yet Alisoun is merely good for sex. 

"and provely he caughte hire by the queynte, 
And seyde, 'Y-wis, but if ich have my wille, 
For derne ove of thee, lemman, I spille" 
This is one example of the bawdy way in which Chaucer uses language denoting sex and dominance of females "caught hire by the queynte" essentially means grabbing her privates, and using them as a way to get what he wants - which is to sleep with her "lemman, I spille" if he doesn't he'll die. 

The Miller's tale, other than bawdy and graphic references to women's genitalia, also includes badly placed kisses, burning bottoms, farting and pissing. 

Towards the end, as Alisoun and Nicholas are amid their affair, Absolon comes to Alisoun's window. He asks for a kiss, but instead she sticks her bottom out of the window so he kissed that instead "kissed her naked arse full savorly". Realising the prank, Absolon returns with a red hot poker with the intention of punishing Alisoun. Howveer, when he returns to the window and asks for a kiss, it is Nicholas' bottom that appeared and he farts "as greet as it had been a thonder-dent" (which is ironic because the reason they are there at all is because there was supposed to have been a storm) in Absolon's face only to have his bottom scolded himself. 

This Nicholas anon leet fle a fart, As greet as it had been a thonder-dent, 700 That with the strook he was almoost yblent; And he was redy with his iren hoot, And Nicholas amydde the ers he smoot,       Of gooth the skyn an hande brede aboute, The hoote kultour brende so his toute, 705 And for the smert he wende for to dye. As he were wood, for wo he gan to crye, "Help! Water! Water! Help for Goddes herte!"