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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. 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 ). 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. While the publican wants a better man to tell a tale he eventually allows the Miller to tell his tale. The Miller is portrayed as drunk and shouting in the voice associated with Pilate in Mystery Play s. He warns that men should not probe too far into their wives' affairs or God's affairs in a warning that is Proleptic to the events of his tale. PLOT The Miller's tale is about a carpenter/landlord and his wife. (The Reeve, another of the travellers, happens to be a carpenter, and urges the Miller not to joke about his profession; the Miller replies that he does not mean to insult carpenters in general, and tells his tale anyway. Thus, The Reeve's Tale follows, which 'quites' the Miller and pokes fun at his profession.) The story is of a student (Nicholas) who persuades his landlord's wife (Alisoun/Alison) to spend the night with him, making that possible through an elaborate scheme in which he convinces the landlord that God has appeared to him, telling him that a flood of Biblical proportions is imminent. The solution, says Nicholas, is to wait overnight for it in a tub suspended from the barn rafters, and to cut the tub from the roof of the barn when the water has risen. This comic prank allows Nicholas and Alison the opportunity to be together. While Nicholas and Alison lie together, another hopeful suitor, Absolon, appears and asks Alison for a kiss. She sticks her "hole" out the window, and he kisses it "with relish," pausing only when he feels bristly hair and considers that no woman has a beard. He realizes the prank and, enraged, disappears to get a red hot poker. Returning, he asks for another kiss. This time Nicholas, who had risen from bed to "piss" (urinate), sticks his "ers" ( Arse ) out the window and farts loudly, shocking Absolon, who then brands Nicholas in the rear. Nicholas cries for water, awakening the landlord, who thinks that the second flood is come at last. He panics and cuts himself down, breaking his arm; the rest of the town awakens to find him lying screaming in the tub on the floor of the barn. After that, he is considered a madman and a Cuckold by the whole town. 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 a poker. 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: Gooth with a Sencer (censer) on the haliday, Sensynge the wyves of the parisshe faste; And many a lovely look on hem he caste, And namely on this carpenteris wyf." 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 Almagest e, 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: Ye, blessed be alwey a lewed {Link without Title} man That noght but oonly his bileve kan! knows nothing except the Creed " 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 . CONTINUATIONS The fifteenth-century Tale Of Beryn depicts the Miller trying and failing to explain the Stained Glass windows of Canterbury cathedral. Chaucer refers to the verse. EXTERNAL LINKS
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