Gender Roles In The Miller's Tale

Who’s The Man: A Gender Overlap in “The Miller’s Tale” One of the many major themes in “The Miller’s Tale” is gender. The main two components of gender include femininity and masculinity and in the text these two components seem to overlap. Unlike sex, gender leans more towards the quality of the individual and his or her behavior whereas sex is biological and is difficult to change or alter. In the Middle Ages, women were expected to be silent, passive, obedient, and compassionate because these were the standard qualities of a female; however, “the concept of the “superiority of the male” was so prevalent during the Middle Ages that even a woman could raise her status and role in society by acting as a man” (Forbes 1). “The attempts
Each man lusts for Alisoun while thinking that he is controlling her but in reality she is pulling the reins because she knows what they desire: sex. “Myn housbonde is so ful of jalousie that but yet waite wel and been privee” (Norton Anthology Literature 243). In this passage Alisoun’s take charge attitude begins to come into play. She is beginning to give into Nicholas and his desire and ignoring the fact that she is married. In this case she does not illustrate the characteristics of the conventional female because she made the choice to have an affair with Nicholas instead of just walking away and being obedient to her wedding vows. Alisoun’s dominance over John was created by John himself because he was trapped by his own ideology. Alisoun was a prize and a possession to him and it seemed as if he were blinded by her beautiful, physical nature. John “…is rich but lowborn, and it is clear, as the tale unfolds, that he is uneducated and simple minded” (Walts 401) which was a plus for Alisoun because she was able to have that control over him by him believing anything that she said. Absolon had fallen under Alisoun’s control as well because he claimed to have really loved her; however, it was just her external appearance that was appealing to him.”Absolon chooses Alisoun as the object of his love. Alisoun, however, resists…Alisoun emerges as a woman who successfully performs her
She does not act like the standard wife during this period because she disobeys her vows to John. The fact that she is married does not affect Alisoun because she has the selfish mentality (that Nicholas has) of wanting to gratify her own pleasures and desires. In order to do that she could not think like the conventional female she has to think like a man and illustrate qualities of the conventional male. First, she is dominant and has an undeniable control over the men; she is able to have control because they do not care about her human characteristics they just wanted sex. It is not hard for Alisoun to woo them with her womanly body as well as with her mind. Second, Alisoun is assertive. She seems very self-confident and is straight- forward about what she wants from Nicholas. Lastly, the goal of the game is pleasure. Nicholas receives what he desires and Alisoun does too. The winner of the game, though, is Alisoun. Instead of Alisoun ending the game by being the object in the middle of a triangular love affair, she is a part of the game. Her femininity is censored; therefore, no woman really appears in this story. There is a physical woman but there is no passive, silent, obedient, compassionate woman in “The Miller’s Tale.” John, Nicholas, Absolon, and Alisoun have the mentality of the conventional male; however, it is not their biological sex that determines who