The Miller's Tale- Geoffrey Chaucer

The Miller’s Tale is a satirical story written by Geoffrey Chaucer as part of his Canterbury Tales in the 14^th century. In the two extracts we have looked at from this tale Chaucer describes the courtship of a woman named Alisoun by two very different men. In the first, Alisoun is wooed by a young man named Nicholas who is extremely vulgar, and is described by Chaucer as being subtle and cunning. But his attempt at courtship in this passage is neither of the two because he grabs her by the queynte (female genitalia) and says “For deerne love of thee, lemman (sweetheart), I spill.” The use of the word spill is a sexual innuendo and this is common throughout Nicholas’ short but effective courting of Alisoun.

On the contrary, the second man, Absolon, is depicted as being proper and pompous. Absolon “kembd his hair” and “cheweth greyn and lychorys (sweet smelling things)” so that he smells and looks sweet for Alisoun. Although Absolon is far more gentlemanly and apparently charming in his attempt at winning Alisoun he is unsuccessful unlike Nicholas, and by doing this Chaucer is mocking the divine, courtly love that other writers of his period were obsessed by. Chaucer’s hero (Nicholas) is unconventional, humorous, and in this way Chaucer in inverting the norm and being different and exciting.

One obvious difference in the men and the courtship they embark on is that Nicholas uses far fewer words in his wooing of Alisoun. The blocks of dialogue in both texts stand out and it is for reason I believe Chaucer is presenting the use of fewer words by Nicholas as vital to his success.  Furthermore, the use of rhyming couplets by Chaucer effectively lets the narrative role of the tongue and sound natural, adding greatly to the comic effect of the text.

The way in which the apparently less educated man successfully woos the women is similar to A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. In this novel Forster presents an amiable woman who falls in love with an uneducated man named George Emerson. Lucy ends up leaving her upper class, book loving husband because of her desire to be with another man.  Similarly to the extract from The Miller’s Tale, both men are upfront in their attempts as wooing the woman and both involve physical touch. This exemplifies the way both authors present Eros, physical love, triumphing over more spiritual, divine love. This is interesting because divine love has always been seen as more powerful and ambitious whereas Eros is more animalistic; however in both texts Eros is represented as true, instinctive love.

Chaucer’s humour and the description of Nicholas grabbing Alisoun  by the queynte is shocking to a 21^st century audience and therefore must have been groundbreaking in the 14^th century when it was written. Other novelists of the time portrayed true love as non-physical like Chaucer does in A Knights Tale. However in The Miller’s Tale the opposite is true.