The Millers Tale Has No Moral Instruction; Chaucer's Aim Is Only to Make Us Laugh. Consider This View in Your Analysis of 'the Miller's Tale' (Include the Portrait and Prologue).

The Millers Tale Has No Moral Instruction; Chaucer's Aim Is Only to Make Us Laugh. Consider This View in Your Analysis of 'the Miller's Tale' (Include the Portrait and Prologue).

  • Submitted By: gruffhob
  • Date Submitted: 12/09/2009 1:20 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1382
  • Page: 6
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‘The Millers Tale’ is the second tale told as part of the Canterbury Tales. This is told as a parody to the Knights tale. When the miller begins to tell his tale, he said he will “now quite the Knights Tale.” The tale is a fabliau and deals with two main subjects, the misplaced kiss, and the second flood, both of which are used in a comedic way to mock social norms and to better the ‘Knights Tale’. The narrator, played by the role of the Miller, sees the reader expecting a comedy as the Miller is from a lower status, yet this uprising of a lower status talker could represent a rebellion. At the era that the tale was written this uprising could represent a lot more than just a comedic story told by a drunken miller. His uprising could represent the rise of the working man after a huge loss of workers in the black plague, along with the creation of a new class in the peasant’s revolt. This idea is supported in the Millers prologue, where he is described to wear “A whit cote and a blew hood”. At his time it would not be expected for a man of his status to wear white or blue, let alone a hood.

‘The Knights Tale’ which is told before the Miller’s, includes the theme of destiny and fate. Most of the things that unfold are down to the destiny of the characters. ‘The Millers Tale’ on the other hand mocks this idea as the characters are responsible events that unfold. The tale includes a carpenter named John and his eighteen year old wife Alison. The massive age gap between John and Alison suggest that Alison might be easily tempted by the love of a younger man. This temptation comes in the form of two young men, Absolon and Nicholas. Absolon is a parish clerk whilst Nicholas is a student.

The Miller before telling the tale reminds us that he is has been drinking- “I am dronke”. Some could argue that his intoxication is a way of inviting the reader not to take him too seriously, suggesting that the tale is a comedy, but I believe that his drinking is used to...

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