The Miller

The Miller is a pilgrim in The Canterbury Tales.

Note: The version of The Canterbury Tales ''that is cited here is "Interlinear Translations of Some of The Canterbury Tales". A link is provided in the bibliography.''

The General Prologue
The miller first appears in "The General Prologue". He is described by Chaucer as a stout and muscular man who is good at wrestling and breaking doors. His beard is described to be "red as any sow or fox" (line 552). He has a hairy wart on the tip of his nose and a broad face in general. He is "a loudmouth and a buffoon" and likes to talk about "sin and deeds of harlotry" (line 561). He is also a scoundrel who swindles his customers.

The Miller is the pilgrim who rides at the front of the group, playing his bagpipes.

The Miller's Prologue
After "The Knight's Tale", the host asks the monk to tell his tale, but the miller interrupts. He is drunk and feels irked by the propriety of "The Knight's Tale": "He would not doff neither hood nor hat, nor give preference to any man out of courtesy" (lines 3122-3). He declares his intention to tell a tale to match "The Knight's Tale". The host, realizing that the miller is drunk, tries to stop him, but the miller threatens to leave, so the host gives in.

The miller introduces his tale: "I will tell a legend and a life both of a carpenter and of his wife, how a clerk has set the carpenter's cap (fooled him)" (lines 3141-3). The reeve, who was formerly a carpenter, becomes angry because he believes that the miller is deliberately slandering him and his own wife. The miller responds with "He who has no wife, he is no cuckold" (line 3152), but then says that there are many good women, perhaps a thousand for every bad one, and that anyone who believes otherwise is mad. He assures the reeve that he is not trying to target him specifically. The miller says that he himself has a wife, but that he would never pry into her secrets, in case he finds out that he has been cuckolded.

At this point, Chaucer addresses the reader and apologizes for the miller's tale, saying that he must tell the truth and repeat the pilgrims' tales word-for-word, regardless of the stories' quality or content. The reader may read another tale if they find "The Miller's Tale" too offensive and should not complain to Chaucer because he has already delivered a warning about the tale's content.

The Miller's Tale
An old carpenter, John, is married to a much younger wife, Alisoun. Their lodger, a student called Nicholas, seduces Alisoun. Nicholas tricks John with a story about that the whole world will soon be flooded like in the biblical story of Noah's ark. He convinces John to sleep in a tub hanging from the rafters. Nicholas and Alisoun use this opportunity to have sex, but another suitor, Absalon, sings outside of her window, asking for a kiss. Alisoun hangs her bottom out of the window which Absalon then kisses, believing it to be her mouth because his eyes are closed. When Absalon realizes the trick, he is furious and returns with a red-hot poker. When Nicholas has a go at hanging his bottom out of the window, Absalon shoves the poker up Nicholas' bottom. Chaos ensues, and all the men end up looking rather silly while Alisoun comes out on top.

A more detailed summary can be found below.

Introduction to John, Alisoun, and Nicholas (lines 3187-3270)
A rich old carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his 18-year-old wife, Alisoun, whom he recently wedded. With them lives a poor scholar, Nicholas, who is learned in astrology which he uses to predict the weather. His room is described, as well as the way he looks and sings. He relies on his friends' support as well as his own income.

The miller briefly turns to his audience to condemn John's choice of wife: "Men should wed according to their status in life, for youth and old age are often in conflict" (lines 3229-30). He states that John deserved the troubles that he is to tell about because he was too stupid to marry his equal in age.

The miller then describes Alisoun. She is fair and slim as a weasel. A detailed description of her clothing and appearance follows from line 3235 to 3270.

Nicholas seduces Alisoun (lines 3271-3306)
One day, John is away in Oseneye. Nicholas flirts with Alisoun and then assaults her: "intimately he caught her by her crotch, and said, "Indeed, unless I have my will, for secret love of thee, sweetheart, I die." [...]  And she sprang as a colt does when restrained, and with her head she twisted fast away, and said, "I will not kiss thee, by my faith! Why, let me be!" said she. "Let me be, Nicholas" (lines 3276-85). Eventually, he wins her over and she agrees to have an affair with him. When she expresses concern at her husband finding out, Nicholas scoffs, saying that a scholar ought to be able to outwit a carpenter.

Introduction to Absalon (lines 3307-3398)
One day, Alisoun goes to church. The parish clerk, Absalon is there. His hair is curled and he is nicely dressed, but he is vain and squeamish. He has an inappropriate amount of interest in the wives of the parish, in particular Alisoun. In order to woo her, he plays his guitar and sings in front of her window at night. This wakes up Alisoun and her husband, John.

Absalon then resorts to wooing Alisoun from afar, brushing his hair and pining for her. He uses go-betweens to contact her and sends her "sweetened wine, mead, and spiced ale, and wafers, piping hot out of the fire" (lines 3378-9). He even sends her money, hoping to win her over. However, she seems to prefer Nicholas and treats Absalon with scorn, making him a laughing stock.

Nicholas tricks Alisoun's husband (lines 3399-3610)
The next time that John is away in Osenay, Nicholas and Alisoun agree on a plan to trick her husband John so that Nicholas and Alisoun can sleep together all night. Nicholas hides in his room all Saturday and Sunday, and on Sunday evening, John notes his mysterious absence and asks Alisoun what is going on. He goes up to Nicholas' room, where Nicholas answers, lamenting that his astrological readings foretell that next Monday, a flood greater than Noah's Flood will come: " Thus shall mankind drown, and lose their lives" (line 3521). John believes him and immediately is concerned for his wife's safety. Nicholas tells him that he can save himself, Alisoun, and Nicholas by getting hold of three tubs, putting food and drink in them and hanging them from the rafters. When the flood comes, they can cut the ropes with an axe. Moreover, John must not tell anyone else about this. John agrees to all of this without a second's thought and goes to get the tubs.

The execution and derailing of Nicholas' plan (3611-3854)
The following Monday evening, John, Nicholas, and Alisoun sit in their tubs. John, exhausted from the work of preparing the tubs, falls asleep quickly. Alisoun and Nicholas creep down the ladders, go to John's bed and have sex there.

Close to morning, Absalon turns up outside of the window. No one has seen John all day and Absalon is hoping to seize the opportunity to woo Alisoun. However, Alisoun is still not interested, and irritably says "'Go from the window, you idiot'" (line 3708). She threatens to throw rocks at him if he does not leave. Absalon promises to leave if he gets a kiss from Alisoun - privately thinking to himself that if he can get a kiss out of her, he can get more. Alisoun sticks her bare bottom out of the window, and, because it is still pitch-black outside, Absalon mistakenly kisses it "with great relish" (line 3735). It then occurs to him that women don't have beards, and he realizes that Alisoun tricked him.

Absalon goes to a blacksmith he knows and borrows a red-hot plough blade from him. He returns to Alisoun's window and once again requests a kiss, hoping that Alisoun will stick out her bottom again so that he can stab it with the red-hot blade. However, this time, Nicholas tries the trick, but Absalon "smote Nicholas in the middle of the ass" (line 3810).

He screams and cries "Water! Water!". This wakes up John, who then thinks that the flood has begun. In his panic, he cuts the rope of the tub and falls all the way onto the floor, breaking his arm. Alisoun and Nicholas run out to help him, and assure their gawking neighbours that John convinced himself that Noah's flood was upon them, and "the folk did laugh at his foolishness" (line 3840). John tries to say otherwise, but nobody believes him.

Thus, the tale ends with John looking silly, Nicholas having burns on his rump, and Absalon having kissed Alisoun's bottom.

Role in The Canterbury Tales
The miller's role in the framing story is to lead the pilgrims and initiate the first bit of drama that happens among the pilgrims, specifically between himself and the reeve. The fight escalates into a competition to slander the other the most in their tale - which the miller wins, eliciting the best reaction from his audience, as demonstrated in "The Reeve's Prologue".

"The Miller's Tale" functions as a foil to "The Knight's Tale", as shown when the miller declares in "The Miller's Prologue" that he intends to tell a tale to match "The Knight's Tale". It is deliberately a cruder, lowbrow, and more sexual version of the story where two men and a woman are in a love triangle where the woman's consent seems to not matter very much to the men. This is made far more obvious in "The Miller's Tale", thus exposing the same flaw in "The Knight's Tale". As opposed to "The Knight's Tale", the woman, Alisoun, ultimately wins in "The Miller's Tale" while the men end up humiliated as a result of their own follies and illusions of control of the situation. In contrast, in "The Knight's Tale", Emelye is the ultimate loser as her wish for no one to have to die for her and for her to remain a virgin go forever unheard and unheeded.

"The Miller's Tale" also directly leads to "The Reeve's Tale" because the reeve believes "The Miller's Tale" to be a personal attack on him because he sees himself in the old carpenter, John. Therefore, he tells "The Reeve's Tale" in retaliation, making the miller the butt of the joke.

"The Miller's Tale" also seems to be the inspiration of "The Merchant's Tale" considering their similarity - perhaps suggesting that the merchant tries to copy a better tale because he cannot think of anything original.