On Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale”

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Frank Jong On Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale” Brief Summary There is a carpenter named John who rents one of his rooms to an Oxford student by the name of Fly Nicholas; Nicholas studies astrology and is able to predict the weather. One day, Nicholas decides to seduce the carpenter's wife, Alison. When she consents to his wish, they think of a way to deceive her husband so that they can be together for the entire night. Nicholas tricks John into thinking that another biblical flood is coming, and makes him hide in a tub that is nailed above the house in preparation for the flood. The husband believes the lie and complies, and Nicholas and Alison are able to make love all evening. Absalon, another young man who is in love with the John's wife, comes over to the house to try to court the lady, but she and Nicholas reject him. Nicholas and John’s wife are terribly mean, and John’s wife tricks Absalon, sticking her butt out the window and having him kiss it. Absalon realizes the trick and comes back with a hot poker. Nicholas shows his butt and farts in Absalon’s face, but Absalon sticks him with a hot poker, and when Nicholas cries for water, the husband thinks that this is the sign that the flood is coming, and so he crashes to the floor. The neighbors laugh at John’s preparation for flood and that he has lost his mind. Plus, they know for sure that his wife has cheated on him. Literary Merit: Irony Chaucer uses the idea of irony in his language to create his characters and their unique natures. The character of Alison, despite her attempts to create an image of a lady, is completely promiscuous, and from this emerges dishonesty. Chaucer communicates this contrast between the image she creates for herself and the reality of what she truly is through irony. In relation to her affair with Nicholas, she proclaims her love, “ans swoor hir ooth, by seint Thomas of

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