The Miller's Tale Theme

“ The Miller’s Tale” is the story of a carpenter named John, his wife name Alison and two clerks, Nicholas and Absolon. Both of the clerks will do anything to get Alison into bed with them, but John is a really jealous husband and keeps Alison on a tight leash. This story has three main themes that are recurrent throughout the story. The first one focuses on morality in medieval England, it provides an insight into the morality of people during that time by showing the Miller’s views on religion, heroic ideals and common morality. The second recurrent theme focuses on the different types of love in this story, an example would be the relationship that John and Alison have or the “love” that Nicholas proclaims he feels for Alison. The third one focuses on using this story to parody the idea of love during this time period. It is defined as courtly love, which means worshipping a woman to get her attention and love, by doing heroic acts. Religion during this time was very strict and everyone was forced to follow the code outlined by Bible and the ten commandments. Even though everyone was expected to follow the rules the church had imposed, the people who were the
The relationship between John and Alison is presented in an interesting way. The ‘love’ that one feels for the other is very different. For example, John cares deeply for Alison and is in love with her, even though he shows his love through his intense jealousy. Johns jealousy has pushed Alison away by trying to ‘tame’ her; throughout the story, Alison does not mention any love, which means that love is not mutual. The ‘love’ between Nicholas and Alison is presented in a sexual way and surrounded by plenty of secrets. One could argue that the ‘love’ they feel for each other might not be love at all, but instead, it could be a sexual attraction between