Gawain The Miller And The Wife Essay Questions And Answers

Test Two – Gawain, the Miller, and the Wife
Short answer questions:
1. Nicholas did not actually have a job, his time was spent wooing Alisoun and studying astrology. Since Nicholas did not work, he lived off the charity of friends. John and Alisoun let him live with them.
2. Nicholas’s told John that God was going to cause another flood, however, John, Alisoun and Nicholas would be spared, they just had to spend the night sleeping in separate troughs suspended from the rafters. After John had fallen asleep, Alisoun and Nicholas were able to sneak out of their troughs and spend the night together.
3. “The Wife if Bath’s Tale” is ultimately about power, specifically women wanting to have power over men, especially their husbands. Being the

queen, Guinevere is presumably the most powerful woman in the land, yet even she has to beg her husband to allow her to pass judgment on the knight and then thanks him profusely for granting her request.
4. A man that marries an ugly woman would not have to worry about cuckoldry. She will be faithful, humble and please him all his life, where as an attractive woman might have gentlemen callers.
5. The Green Knight had used his wife to test Sir Gawain’s character, loyalty and trustworthiness. He found Gawain to be the most faultless of men, failing only in loyalty. His failure being he loved his own life. The Green Knight blamed him less for that sort of failure.

Essay questions:
1.

As a whole, “The Canterbury Tales” could be viewed as Chaucer’s commentary on society. Many of stories focus on the church and on people’s relationships or interactions. At the time, the church was the major focus of the community, the place where most socializing happened, so this focus is only natural. “The Miller’s Tale” uses four types of people to illustrate how society interacts.
The first type of character is the miller, John, who represents the wealthy class, but not a nobleman. Right away he is introduced as “a riche gnof that gestes heeld to boorde” (The Miller’s Tale 80). This means he is an irritable old man. Chaucer sees this type of person, possibly the leading edge of the middle class, as a thoroughly unpleasant fellow to be around. He also calls John rich, but then says he takes on boarders in the same line. The appearance is that Chaucer views this character as attached to money. Later, he describes John as being such a control freak, out of fear of his wife cheating on him, that John all but has her locked up in a cage (The Miller’s Tale 116). Chaucer views the wealthy class as being

materialistic.
When reading the description of John’s wife, Alisoun, one can nearly forgive him for being so concerned with other men wanting her. Her body is delicate and small, immaculately dressed. She takes care in her appearance and has a glow about her (The Miller’s Tale 126). She is also described as having a promiscuous eye and being a doll or wench (The Miller’s Tale 136). Wench could mean a young girl or it could mean a lewd girl. Given the overall context of the story, the latter seems more likely. Between Alisoun’s looks, her affair with Nicholas and her toying with Absolon, Chaucer seems to have the opinion that wives, the second type of person, are not to be trusted.
The next leg of this love triangle is Nicholas. As a student and scholar, he represents educated people. Nicholas spends most of his time wooing Alisoun. When not doing that he seems to sing, play music and maybe, on occasion, study. Little time is left for working, so he lives off “his freendes finding and his rente” (The Miller’s Tale 112). In addition to being a seducer of married women, he is also a mooch. Later, when Nicholas tells John the whale’s tale of a flood coming, he reveals another side of himself (The Miller’s Tale 405). Nicholas is an arrogant liar. The lie is obvious, however, the arrogance comes with the audacity of the lie. Even if John did not know the Bible story well enough to know God had promised to never flood the world again, Nicholas is still banking on John not being capable of seeing that a flood had not happened. Chaucer’s opinion of the educated type seems to be the lowest so far.
The final type of character is the churchman, portrayed through Absolon. Absolon’s appearance reads very similarly to Alisoun’s, he is exquisitely dressed and impeccably groomed. Chaucer depicts him as being a little up tight, “…he was somdell squaimous / of farting, and of speeche daungerous” (The Miller’s Tale 229). Absolon seems to think he has a literal right to openly pursue whatever he wants, even another man’s wife.
This carpenter awook and herde him singe,
And spak unto his wif, and saide anoon,
“What Alisonm heerestou nought Absolon
That chaunteth thus under oure bowres wal?

(The Miller’s Tale 256)
This section shows John waking up to Absolon playing music and singing outside their bedroom window in an attempt to seduce Alisoun. How frequently and publicly he tries to impress her shows he has little concern for John discovering his actions. As a churchman, one would expect Absolon to have higher morals, and, perhaps even be committed to a life of celibacy. However, Chaucer shows he thinks the church is full of prideful hypocrites with this portrayal.

2.
At the core, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is a story about chivalry. Chivalry could be defined as a moral or social code according to which a medieval knight was supposed to live his life. The entire point of the Green Knight’s challenge was to create a scenario in which to test the legendary chivalry of Arthur’s court.
King Arthur’s court was renowned for how chivalrous the knights were. So well known are they, that when Sir Gawain rides into the unfamiliar castle, men are thrilled to meet such a prestigious knight.
All the men of the manor were of the same mind,
being happy to appear promptly in his presence,
this person famed for prowess and

purity,
whose noble skills were sung to the skies,
and whose life was the stuff of legend and lore.
Then knight spoke softly to knight, saying
“Watch now, we’ll witness his graceful ways,
hear the faultless phrasing of flawless speech
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We few
shall learn a lesson here
in tact and manner true…
(Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 910-917, 923-925)
In this portion, the Gawain author provides an outline of chivalry. Gawain is not only a skilled warrior, but he is also a moral man with grace and courtesy. He is as skilled with his words as he is with his sword. Lesser knights are eager for the chance to learn from him. Chivalry is not just a passing fancy for Gawain. The shield he carries, as well as his shawl, is adorned with a pentangle, which is a symbol that “…is taken to this day as a token of fidelity…” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 626). These items are a deliberate choice to wear; Gawain strives to hold himself to the highest of standards.
It is with that sort of character in mind that one must consider why Gawain never gave into the advances of the lord’s wife. Beautiful as she may have been, his morality would have abhorred adultery. Loyal as he was, he could not betray his host, who had trusted Gawain to remain the castle in his absence. However, there is another possibility, Gawain and the lord made a pact. “Here’s a wager: what I win in the woods will be yours / and what you gain while I’m gone you will give to me” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1106). Gawain only ever granted the lady a kiss and since he had to pass that winning on to the lord, perhaps his comeliest kiss was the furthest his appetites could go with another man. Given the rest of his character, he deserves the benefit of the doubt on his motivations being loyalty, courtesy and morality, or in short, chivalry.