Comparing the Nights Tale and the Millers Tale

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In both The Nights Tale and The Millers Tale by Chaucer, female beauty is expressed dominantly. Also in some aspects both poems could be referred to as exploring superficial love, due to the men being overwhelmed with the beauty of women. This is displayed within The Nights Tale as Palamon questions whether the woman before him is “womman or goddesse” after seeing her across the yard. Thus this demonstrates Chaucers use of superficial love as Palamon presumes her as being more than human only dues to her beauty. Furthermore, elements of superficial love are also in The Millers Tale, as Absolon loves Alisoun due to her “goddess corpus”. Both poems therefore illustrate superficial love as men become captivated with women due to them having physical beauty. However, additionally this could be interpreted as not being superficial love and demonstrates how society in the past had different values which made women desirable. Furthermore, feminine beauty within the two poems is compared to nature portraying a stereotypical type of love. The Knights Tale compares Emelye to flowers frequently as she is “fressher than the may with floures newe”. The use of the month may suggest that this is when the majority of flowers are at their finest; thus by comparing his love to this it portrays his belief that she is perfection. Moreover the symbolism of flowers continues as he compares her complexion to that of Roses, which is the most common stereotypical association with love, thus showing the instant love he has towards her. Alternatively, the symbolism of roses suggests Emelye has natural beauty and appears delicate like rose petals. Similarly, The Millers Tale also uses the imagery of flowers within nature in order to describe feminine beauty. John refers to his wife as “a prymerole” which is the delicate flower that is commonly known as a primrose, therefore showing her petite
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