. Ribaldry is speaking about sexual incidents in an ill-mannered way. The Miller’s Tale provides multiple examples of ribaldry such as, “It happened later, (Allison) went off to church, this worthy wife, one holiday, to search her conscience and to do the works of Christ.” This is ironic because later in the tale Allison is not loyal to her husband and cheats on him with Nicholas. 2. The Miller is very drunk when he begins to tell a story about a carpenter and interrupts the Monk. He is very aggressive and harsh towards anyone who interrupts him or asks him questions. Chaucer states, “The Miller, who with drinking was all pale, so that unsteadily on his horse he sat…” (Chaucer 83). 3. Nicholas is the young astrologist who John the carpenter …show more content…
Absalom goes to Allison’s room and begs for a kiss outside her window as her and Nicholas are in bed together. To make Absalom finally leave, Allison agrees to kiss him. Although, instead of putting her lips out the window, she sticks her butt out and Absalom unknowingly kisses it. Nicholas and Allison shut the window and laughed to themselves as Absalom angrily leaves. “And Absalom no better felt nor worse, but with his mouth he kissed her naked arse right greedily, before he knew of this” (Chaucer 99). 8. To get revenge, Absalom borrows a red-hot poker from a blacksmith and returns to Allison's window. He begs her once more to come out for a kiss, but little does she know he has a surprise for her. Thinking he was clever, Nicholas sticks his butt out the window and suddenly farts in Absalom’s face. Quickly, Absalom plunges the red-hot poker in Nicholas’s butt and he screams. “He was ready with his iron hot and Nicholas right in the arse he got it” (Chaucer 101). 9. The village people think John the carpenter is crazy because he is preparing for a flood that is not going to happen. Nicholas begins to yell “Water water water!” after being hit with the poker and the neighbors hear the ruckus. Once they hear that John is working on an escape plan for the flood, they laugh. “The people laughed at his fantasy; up to the roof they looked, and did there did grape” (Chaucer
"The house is 10 feet by 10 feet, and it is built completely of corrugated paper. The roof is peaked, the walls are tacked to a wooden frame. The dirt floor is swept clean, and along the irrigation ditch or in the muddy river...." " ...and the family possesses three old quilts and soggy, lumpy mattress. With the first rain the carefully built house will slop down into a brown, pulpy mush." (27-28)
Such comments as, “I pray to God his nekke mote to-breke” quickly reveal that the ver-bal game of “quite” involves much more than a free meal to the Reeve in “The Canterbury Tales” (I 3918). This overreaction, which grabs the attention of the audience and gives it pause, is characteristic of the Reeve’s ostensibly odd behavior, being given to morose speeches followed by violent outbursts, all the while harboring spiteful desires. Anger typifies the Reeve’s dialogue and his tale, which begs the question why. It appears to be a reaction to the Miller’s insults, but they are not extreme enough to provoke such resentment. He seem-ingly has no hesitation in articulating his bitterness, yet he and his story are as much marked by suppression as expression. Silence resounds as loudly as any noise in the Reeve’s Prologue and Tale. The reader is as puzzled by his utterances as the lack of them: his sudden sermon on death is matched by the quietness of two couples copulating in a small room of five, none of which are able to hear what the others are doing. The reality is that the behavior of the Reeve and the characters in his tale are not random or unaccountable. The Reeve is continually si-lenced by other pilgrims and himself, which is paralleled in his tale, and in turn suppresses his emotions, which leads to even more explosive conduct.
The narrator, although insensitive, is actually quite polite. He tries to engage in small talk when Robert arrives but shows his insensitivity once again when he asks him which side of the train he sat on during his trip. He clearly does not know how to communicate with Robert, and it appears that he does not want to learn. Robert makes him uncomfortable, and the narrator does not know how to handle this. The narrator, in an effort to relieve his discomfort with the situation, offers Robert an alcoholic drink, and pours the first of many drinks to come.
In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” Geoffrey Chaucer masterfully frames an informal homily. Through the use of verbal and situational irony, Chaucer is able to accentuate the moral characteristics of the Pardoner. The essence of the story is exemplified by the blatant discrepancy between the character of the storyteller and the message of his story. By analyzing this contrast, the reader can place himself in the mind of the Pardoner in order to account for his psychology.
The Miller tells his tale momentarily to amuse and and embarrass (the Reeve and his own cameo appearance), while the Knight tells a story strong on "sentence" or meaning. The two different motives reveal the fundamental differences between the two men: the noble Knight can still believe in a higher beautiful world, while the Miller cannot accept it ever existed.
Alison in the Miller's Tale and May of the Merchant's Tale are similar in several ways. Both are young women who have married men much older than themselves. They both become involved with young, manipulative men. They also conspire to and do cuckold their husbands. This is not what marriage is about and it is demonstrated in both tales. What makes the Miller's Tale bawdy comedy and the Merchant's tale bitter satire is in the characterization. In the Miller's tale we are giving stereotyped characters. The principals are cardboard cut-outs sent into farcical motion. The Merchant's Tale gives us much more background and detail of the character's lives. The reader is more involved and can feel their situations. Here we will focus on the two women of each tale and how they demonstrate this difference.
The narrator is the first element of humor Chaucer uses in his story. The Miller is rude and drunk but generally a jolly fellow. This sets the tone of story as being fun and even a bit coarse, just like the Miller himself. He tells a few jokes before he tells his story: "One shouldn't be two inquisitive in life? / Either about God's secrets or one's wife. / You'll find God's plenty all you could desire"(53). As well, the Miller wants to punish the Reeve, a ...
It is important to notice that Chaucer meant this story to be comical not serious nor moral. The first definition of porn from Merriam-Webster is the depiction of erotic behavior such as in pictures or writing intended to cause sexual arousal. In this story there were no pictures nor writing to cause sexual arousal. Yes, of course there were bits and pieces of sexual relations and activity, but not the point where it caused sexual arousal. The narrat...
In the Miller’s Tale, the story tells of a carpenter and his wife, Allison and how she is pursued by multiple men. The first man to pursue her is Nicolas, a man boarding with the Miller. When the carpenter is away he begins flirting with Allison in hopes of making love. Originally she refuses, but eventually she gives in to his will. Chaucer seems to be pointing out that women are easily swayed by temptation by showing us that Allison is unable to stop herself from making love with Nicolas. In addition Chaucer is also showing us how disloyal women can by using Allison’s extramarital affair as an example. However this stereotyping is not just limited to women in the miller tale but also reaches men too. Later in the story, Nicolas manages to convince the carpenter that there is going to be a massive flood and that he should hide. However this is all just a lie, which Nicolas is using to get the carpenter out of the way so he can be with Allison. Through the carpenter, it seems as if Chaucer is pointing out that men are generally gullible and easily fooled. The stereotyping continues when Absolon enters the story and attempts to woo the likes of Allison. Absolon is unsuccessful in his attempt to woo her however, and Allison tricks him by pretending to offer him ...
Many men that exhibit wrath can be show offs and not think things through all the way. In the story Chaucer illustrates the miller as a bit stupid and very conceited.” Broad, knotty, and short- shouldered, he would boast He could heave any door off hinge and post, Or take a run and break it with his h...
The Miller takes his position in Chaucer's stories very well. A large man that likes to wrestle, the Miller is a loud and boisterous person. "At wrestling, never failed he of the ram. He was a chunky fellow, broad of build." The Miller is obviously a large man. Chaucer also goes into full detail when describing the Miller's wart," And broad it was as if it were a spade. Upon the coping of his nose he had A wart, and thereon stood a tuft of hairs, Red as the bristles in an old sow's ears" Chaucer continues to describe the Miller in full detail. Thus far, the author has nothing good to say about the Miller. After Chaucer is done butchering the Miller's physical appearance, he then proceeds to comment on the Millers character. "He could steal corn and full thrice charge his fees;
I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina’s eyes and cause her pain, but it is the truth. The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her on. One said, “Go on! You are the first, and we shall follow. Yours is the right to begin.” The other added, “He is young and strong. There are kisses for us all.” I lay quiet, looking out from under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation (39).
However, in a majority of the story, Chaucer includes examples of a specific problem that was happening in England during the fourteenth-century. This ongoing problem is corruption in the Catholic Church. The mainstream idea of a religious figure is someone that people can look up to and someone that can be a model for how people should behave in a society. However, during the fourteenth-century, this ideal model did not exist. In “The Miller’s Tale”, Chaucer characterizes both Nicholas and Absalom as clerks, who were considered to be religious figures at the time. In order to trick the carpenter, John, into getting out of the house (so that Nicholas could spend the night with his wife), Nicholas used his vast knowledge and understanding of religion to undermine John. He told John, “That now a Monday next, at quarter night, shal falle a reyn, and that so wilde and wood, that half so greet was never Noës flood” (164). Nicholas abuses his power of religion in order to have an affair with the poor carpenter’s
The Miller's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer is a mirror of medieval society particularly in the way it depicts the relationships between men and women as well as giving a realistic portrait of working class people during the middle ages. Alison, the main character illustrates how a woman was able to use her sex through her actions of deceit to many characters. Popular belief holds that courtly love was prevalent during the medieval period; however The Miller's Tale provides a more realistic look into sexual relationships through its use of infidelity and sexual humor. Chaucer's characters are typical middle class workers rather than elite nobility. In addition, many of the characters seem heartless and corrupt. Alison's character is far away from most others in her mere selfishness followed by inappropriate humor leading to Nicolas and his "injury." She responds to her husband's jealousy and protective nature by a flirtatious demeanor. As most literature does, The Miller's Tale has a moral even though it's slanted and the punishable party is no t appropriately disciplined.
Olenka sitting lonely on her back porch, night after night, and lost in thought, listened, one evening, to Kukin, the manager of an open-air theater, called the Tivoli, says, “Again!”. “It’s going to rain again!” meaning there will be no work. She again on the following evening, listens to him, as he, with a laugh of hysteria, says, “Well, rain away, then! Flood the garden, drown me!.....”