The Miller's Tale. I Dislike Them All...

Out of all the stories in The Canterbury Tales my least favorite has been “The Miller’s Tale”. The story has humor, and I can enjoy it from that angle, but there is so much that is either mean or doesn’t make sense, that I cannot make myself like it. Every story so far in the tales I have been able to immerse my self in, and try to look at the different perspectives of the characters, but I cannot in “the Miller’s Tale” because I don’t understand them, and not only that, but I don’t want to.

I cannot think of one of the four characters that has a redeeming quality about them.

Nicholas is very capable of being the cause of all trouble. He’s persistent and sexually motivated. I also find him to be a narcissist believing that the people around are there for his purpose, which is proven by his insistence in being in control of Alison’s body. He is clearly manipulative and mischievous, which he demonstrates with his relationship with John.

Next we have, Absolon, who is part of the church, and is also pursuing Alison. Forget the fact that he was not supposed to pursue her because he probably took a vow of chastity, but she is a married woman. His behavior is terrible, especially when considering his role with the church. Then after Alison and Nicholas humiliate him, he seeks revenge and physically hurts Nicholas intending to hurt her even though his actions were wrong.

John is an idiot, and clearly clueless to anything that is going on in his own house. While Alison and Nicholas are having sex in his house, and Absolon is trying to pursue John’s wife, he’s asleep in tub worried about a flood because Nicholas told him one was coming. There is nothing respectable about a man who follows other men blindly, which makes me feel no sympathy for John.

Finally, Alison, who I think is a little bit of the puppet master in this story because when things fall apart, she remains untouched. She has so much control over the men around her. In the two pranks that played on John and Absolon, she was there and in the action, but came out unharmed, with only the men punished for her behavior. All the bad that happened to them came from her. John broke his arm based on a lie that was told, so Nicholas could sleep with her. Absolon was farted on by Alison because he came to pursue her, and as result Absolon seeks revenge on her, but instead brands Nicholas. She is the only one who is not punished for her actions.

None of these characters demonstrate that they have any good traits at all. The other aspect of this tale that really bothers me is the amount of effort it takes for Nicholas to have sex with her. Was it really worth all the work he had to go through to be with her? The trickery is very elaborate in regards to tricking John into thinking there is a floods, and convincing his to sleep in a tub. I just think that if they were as determined as they were to have the affair, there had to be a simpler plan to accomplish their goal.        

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