

With Alisoun, he hatches a scheme that will enable him to do that. Nicholas, meanwhile, longs to spend a whole night in Alisoun's arms rather than just the few moments they get during John's absences. However, Alisoun rebuffs all his efforts because she is already involved with Nicholas. He also seeks her attention by taking a part in a local play.
#Canterbury tales in middle english full
Shortly afterward, Alisoun goes to church, where Absolon sees her and immediately is filled with "love-longing." He tries to woo Alisoun by singing love songs under her window during the full moon and sending her gifts. When she threatens to cry for help, he begins to cry and, after a few sweet words, she agrees to have sex with him when it is safe to do so. While he is gone, Nicholas grabs Alisoun "by the queynte". The action begins when John makes a day trip to a nearby town. Another man in the town, Absolon, the parish clerk, also has his eye on Alisoun. In order to make extra money, John rents out a room in his house to a clever Oxford University student named Nicholas, who has taken a liking to Alisoun. The carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his much younger wife, Alisoun, who is a local beauty. "The Miller's Tale" is the story of a carpenter, his lovely wife, and two younger men who are eager to sleep with her. In the narrative, a servant whose knocks go unanswered, uses the hole to peek in: "An hole he foond, ful lowe upon a bord/ Ther as the cat was wont in for to crepe,/ And at the hole he looked in ful depe,/ And at the last he hadde of hym a sighte." Few doors with cat holes have survived from this early period, but the 14th-century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer described one in the "Miller's Tale" from his Canterbury Tales. Synopsis Door with Cat Hole (carved oak, Late Medieval period, 1450–1500, France, Walters Art Museum) This door, carved with a linen-fold decoration, was probably a back or interior door of a middle-class home.

In a way, the Miller requites the "Knight's Tale" and is himself directly requited with " The Reeve's Tale", in which the Reeve follows Robin's insulting story about a carpenter with his own tale disparaging a miller. "The Miller's Tale" begins the trend in which succeeding tellers "quite" (or one-up) the previous story with their own. Osewold the Reeve, who had originally been a carpenter himself, shouts out his immediate objection to such ridicule, and protests that the tale will insult carpenters and wives, but the Miller insists on proceeding with his tale. He explains that his story is about a carpenter and his wife, and how a clerk "hath set the wrightes cappe" (that is, fooled the carpenter). The Miller claims that his tale is "noble", but reminds the other pilgrims that he is quite drunk and cannot be held accountable for what he says. The Host tries to persuade the Miller to let some "bettre" man tell the next tale, but acquiesces when the Miller threatens to leave the company. Before the Monk can respond, however, the drunken Miller insists on going next. In the Miller's Prologue, the pilgrims have just heard and enjoyed " The Knight's Tale", a classical story of courtly love, and the Host asks the Monk to "quite" with a tale of his own. The general prologue to The Canterbury Tales describes the Miller, Robin, as a stout and evil churl fond of wrestling. The Miller's Prologue is the first "quite" that occurs in the tales. " The Miller's Tale" ( Middle English: The Milleres Tale) is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1380s–1390s), told by the drunken miller Robin to " quite" (a Middle English term meaning requite or pay back, in both good and negative ways) " The Knight's Tale". Illustration of Robin the Miller, from The Miller's Tale, playing a bagpipe JSTOR ( November 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "The Miller's Tale" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
