Quite a Love Story

After the Knight told his wonderful fairytale love story, the Miller felt it was his duty to tell one of his own. But the Miller's story is a complete opposite of the Knight's tale. The Knight's tale was a romanticized story were true love triumphs at the end. His tale completely fits his honorable personality. The characters and their actions are portrayed as wonderful and perfect, representing the virtuosness of the Kinght.

But the Miller's story is pretty different, it's inmoral and vulgar. The tale's about a man named Nicholas who felt attracted to a woman named Alisoun, the young wife of an old carpenter. But the Miller's description of their love and of her is very unconventional. Hie describes Alisoun as: "Fair was this young wife, and moreover/ As any weasel was her body graceful and slender/A belt she wore, with decorative strips all of silk/ An apron as white as morning milk" (3233-3236). The Miller's description of Alisoun contrasts with the Knight's description of Emelye. The Knight portrays Emelye as a princess while the Miller describes Alisoun in a bizarre maner.

Also, the plot of the "Miller's Tale" is definetly not the one of a fairytale. It is a story about deceiving, unfaithfulness, and vulgarity. There's cheating, farting, and trickery. There's no honor or virtuosness, and the ending is very unconventional: " Thus screwed was this carpenter's wife/ In spite of all his guarding and his jealousy/ And Absolon has kissed her lower eye/ and Nicholas is scalded in the rump" (3850-3853). The Miller's story is stereotypical of his personality and of his social rank. While the Knight's story reveals his high status, the Miller's tale depicts his bawdy character.