This article is about the second of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. For the Tom Verlaine album, see The Millers Tale. The Millers Tale is a 1996 double-CD compilation album by Tom Verlaine. ...

The Miller's Prologue and Tale is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, told by a drunken miller to 'quite' The Knight's Tale. When the host Harry Bailey asks for something to 'quite with it', this can be taken to mean 'to balance' or to 'pay back'. While the host who wants The Monk's Tale to follow means to balance, the Miller takes the other meaning. It is a vulgar, ribald, and satirical fabliau in stark contrast to the courtly love of the Knight's Tale. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ... The Knights Tale is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. ... The Monks Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. ... Ribaldry is the third and somewhat neglected genre of sexual entertainments, something different from either pornography or erotica, yet is often confused with them. ... The fabliau (plural fabliaux) is a comic, usually anonymous tale written by jongleurs in northeast France circa the 13th Century. ... Court of Love in Provence in the 14th Century (after a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). ...

The Miller's Prologue is the first 'quite' that occurs in the tales (to 'quite' someone is to mock them in a satirical way, or in the Middle Ages, to 'quite' was to match their blow in jousting). Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Jousting is a staple entertainment at Renaissance Fairs. ...

The Miller's Prologue

The prologue of the tale is in the form of a conversation between Harry Bailey (the owner of the Tabard Inn) and the Miller, whose name is Robin. While the publican wants another good herioic and majestic tale to follow the knights to tell a tale he eventually allows the Miller (just to make him shut up) to tell his tale.

The Miller is portrayed as drunk and shouting in the voice associated with Pilate in mystery plays. The Reeve urges the Miller not to joke about his profession; the Miller replies that he does not mean to insult carpenters in general, or portray them as cuckolds, and tells his tale anyway. Thus, The Reeve's Tale follows, which 'quites' the Miller with a tale in which some students make a fool out of a dishonest and greedy miller. Mystery plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. ... The Reeves Prologue and Tale is the third story to be told in Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. ...

The Miller's Tale

The Miller's Tale is of a student (Nicholas) who persuades his jealous old landlord's much younger wife (Alisoun/Alison) to spend the night with him. They plan a way to have sex by duping John, the landlord, through an elaborate scheme in which Nicholas convinces him that he has found, through his astrology, that a flood of Biblical proportions is imminent. Their safety depends, says Nicholas, on waiting overnight in separate tubs suspended from the rafters, and to cut their tubs from the roof when the water has risen. He adds that if the landlord tells anyone else people will think he is mad (although he says this to make sure that no man tells the landlord to see sense in the matter). This comic prank allows Nicholas and Alison the opportunity to sneak down, after the landlord falls asleep, and make love. This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ...

While Nicholas and Alison lie together, the foppish and fastidious parish clerk, Absolon, who is also attracted to Alison and believes her husband to be away, appears kneeling at the bedchamber's low "shot-wyndowe" (privy vent) and asks Alison for a kiss. In the darkness, she presents her "hole" at the window and he "kiste hir naked ers ful savorly," pausing only when he feels bristly hair. He realizes the prank and goes away enraged. He borrows a red hot colter (a knife-like plough part) from the early-rising blacksmith. Returning, he asks for another kiss, intending to burn Alison. This time Nicholas, who had risen from bed to "piss", sticks his own backside out the window and lets loose an enormous fart in Absolon's face. The enraged suitor thrusts the coulter "amidde the ers" burning Nicholas' "toute" (anus) and the skin "a hands-breadth round about". In agony, Nicholas cries for water, awakening John. Hearing someone screaming for water, he thinks that the Second Flood has come, panics, and cuts himself down, falling to the floor and breaking his arm. The rest of the town awakens to find him lying in the tub. He tries to explain what he's doing in the tub, and sure enough in accordance with Nicholas' prophecy, he is considered a madman, and a cuckold too. The traditional way: a German farmer works the land with a horse and plough. ... A cuckold is a married man whose wife has sex with other men. ...

Analysis

The tale appears to combine the motifs of two separate fabliaux, the 'second flood' and 'misdirected kiss', both of which appear in continental European literature of the period. Its bawdiness serves not only to introduce the Reeve's tale, but the general sequence of low comedy which terminates in the unfinished Cook's tale.

Critics see many Christian symbols in the Miller's Tale. Parts of the tale are similar to the Annunciation, with Nicholas as the Angel Gabriel and Alison as Mary, while the clueless carpenter John is Joseph. Nicholas's singing of the 'Virgin's Angelus', a popular song about the annunciation, hints at the parallel. Also, Medieval scriptural critics associated Mary with the image of the Burning Bush, perhaps inspiring the eventual branding with an iron. A key piece of the Paleologan Mannerism - the Annunciation icon from Ohrid. ... 12th-century icon of Archangel Gabriel from Novgorod. ... Saint Mary and Saint Mary the Virgin both redirect here. ... Saint Joseph, also referred to as Joseph the Betrothed and as Joseph of Nazareth, was the foster-father of Jesus, according to the New Testament (Matthew 1:16; Luke 3:23). ... Exegesis (from the Greek to lead out) involves an extensive and critical interpretation of an authoritative text, especially of a holy scripture, such as of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Quran, etc. ... Burning bush at St. ...

The character of Absolon introduces another theme of the Tales, the corruption of the Church. The Nun's Priest's Tale and The Shipman's Tale deals with the same theme; the Summoner, Friar and Pardoner personify it. Absolon is a clerk, but thinks of little except wooing young women at church:
The tale of Chanticleer and the Fox is a beast fable popularised by the 14th century Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. ... The Shipmans Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. ... The Summoners Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. ... The Friars Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, told by Huberd the friar. ... The Pardoners Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales. ...

Alison, however, does not return Absolon's affections, although she readily takes his gifts.

A third theme, that of knowledge and science, appears in several marginal comments. Nicholas is an avid astrologer (as Chaucer himself was), equipped with, "His Almageste, and bookes grete and smale, / His astrelabie, longynge for his art..." John the carpenter and his servant Robin (also the Miller's name) represent unintellectual laymen; John tells Nicholas:
Almagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name (al-kitabu-l-mijisti, i. ... A 16th century astrolabe. ...

He also recounts a story (sometimes told of Thales) of an astrologer who falls into a pit while studying the stars. The issue of whether learned or unlearned faith is better is also relevant to The Prioress' Tale and The Parson's Tale. A creed is a statement or confession of belief — usually religious belief — or faith. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... The Prioress Prologue and Tale - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This is the last tale from Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. ...

Feminists have occasionally criticised the story for its treatment of Alison as a "prize" to be fought over by the three principal male characters and by the fact that the hot colter was in fact intended for her for refusing Absolon's unwanted attention. Others have noted that Alison freely chooses where to bestow her affections, is a spirited character and is not entirely blameless herself. All three of her paramours end up in physical and/or emotional pain. Critics have often noted Chaucer's progressively liberal morality, this incident being perhaps the most conspicuous example. Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ...

The insecure manhood of the three males has also been suggested as a theme. John, being elderly and likely impotent, fears the shame of being cuckolded. Absolon is a prissy fop. Nicholas is described as "sleigh and ful privee" as a woman. Absolon's choice of the coulter, after his masculinity is humiliated, is seen as a phallic symbol. Nicholas' substitution, however, denies him his revenge, while, by placing himself in Alison's posture, Nicholas reveals his feminine side. He may consider himself fortunate to merely suffer buggery with the iron and not complete feminization (castration) which would have been the result of the hot blade upon his dangling privates. Anal sex or anal intercourse is a form of human sexual behavior. ...

Parody

The Millers Tale has often be made out to look like a parody of the Knight's previous tale, with the pursuit of a woman and reference to the stars. This was made to "lighten the mood" and to appeal to the lower class. It was also intended to add layers to the comedy. For example, in the Knight's tale, the two knights longed to just touch the princess but, in the Miller's tale both of the men get intimate with the woman, Nicholas in bed and Absolom kissing her "ers". In another parody, Absolom does his wooing at the privy window, a place of foul smells, having first adorned himself with all sorts of sweet-smelling scents. He gets both a face-full of buttocks and a fart.

Continuations

The fifteenth-century Tale of Beryn depicts the Miller trying and failing to explain the stained glass windows of Canterbury cathedral. Strictly speaking, stained glass is glass that has been painted with silver stain and then fired. ...

Chaucer refers to the Distichs of Cato with this passage: "He knew nat Catoun, for his wit was rude." The Distichs of Cato was one of the most common textbooks in schools throughout medieval Europe, and was familiar to most anyone with a basic education in Latin. The Distichs of Cato (Latin: Catonis Disticha, most famously known simply as Cato), is a Latin collection of proverbial wisdom and morality by an unknown author named Dionysius Cato from the 3rd or 4th century AD. The Cato was the most popular medieval schoolbook for teaching Latin, prized not only...

References In Music

The song A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum appears to contain a reference to Chaucer's work: "And so it was that later as the miller told his tale, that her face, at first just ghostly, turned a whiter shade of pale".^[1] A Whiter Shade of Pale is a song released in 1967 by the band Procol Harum. ... Procol Harum are an English progressive rock band, formed in the 1960s. ...

References

1. ^ http://www.procolharum.com/w/w9901.htm

External links

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