The Miller's Tale

Chaucer's Miller's Tale

• is a fabliau
  • "A fabliau is a brief comic tale in verse, usually scurrilous and often scatological or obscene" (The Riverside Chaucer, p. 7).
• has been called "a shining example of the difference between art and smut" (Mulvey 31)
• is told because the drunken Miller (whose name is Robin) insists upon telling a tale after the Knight, despite the fact that the Host has asked the Monk to tell his tale next
  • The Miller plans to "quite the Knightes tale" (p. 321, lines 17-9)
• has a plot suited to its teller
  • a stout carl (i.e., stout fellow)
  • who breaks doors with his head
  • "a janglere and a Goliardais" ("teller of dirty stories and a reveller," p. 314, line 562 and n. 2)
  • his stories were "most of sinne and harlotries" ("obscenities," p. 314, line 563)
• opens with a character who is a carpenter by trade—that’s the Reeve’s trade (see p. 315, lines 615-6). The Reeve gets upset because he thinks the story is making fun of him and his trade (p. 322, lines 36-41).
• brings together two storylines which remain parallel until near the end, where they converge
  • Plot 1--the love triangle featuring cuckolded John and adulterous Nicholas and Alisoun
    • the Noah story convinces John to take refuge while Nicholas and Alisoun sneak away
  • Plot 2--the triangle composed of love-struck, butt-kissing Absolon; desired, butt-kissed Alisoun; and butt-branded lover, Nicholas
    • Absolon's hot poker on Nicholas's rear end leads to Nicholas's shout for water
  • Convergence--when Nicholas shouts for water, John hears the shout and thinks the flood has come so he releases his tub and falls
• ends with everyone paid back for his or her foolishness, whereupon the Miller summarizes the outcome of their folly (see p. 337, lines 742-5).