The Theme of Marriage Throughout Canterbury Tales

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Recommended: Central message of Geoffrey Chaucer's marriage tales

The Theme of Marriage Throughout Canterbury Tales

In 'The Miller's Tale' the sanctity of marriage is played upon

heavily, as during Chaucer's time all marriages were respected in the

eyes of the Church and contained a very religious theme. We also see

how jealously in a marriage can bring about conflicting ideas and

actions, which can often lead to one person taking the other for

granted. The whole foundation of marriage is questioned in 'The

Miller's Tale' as Chaucer reveals both the good and bad in a married

couple.

Contrary to 'The Knight's Tale' which contains a story of courtly

romance, of the ideal fantasy, 'The Miller's Tale' reveals to opposing

side to marriage. Where as courtly love is all about wooing your

future partner, showing off your airs and graces, the marriage in 'The

Miller's Tale' is very much based on reality. Chaucer deliberately

placed these two stories side by side to show just how contrasting

they are and how one is based purely on fantasy, while the other is

based on reality. Chaucer tries to show through the characters of

Alisoun and John that marriage isn't the fairytale that it has been

portrayed as for hundreds of years, but a relationship that contains

both happy and sad experiences, makes us smile and cry. Marriage is

real. We as the reader may feel that everything that could go wrong in

the marriage between John and Alisoun does, but that is simply

Chaucer's intention.

It is obvious from the beginning of the text that Alisoun has no

respect for the pledge she made to John in front of God because as

soon as Alisoun becomes bored of him, along comes another man ready to

fill his shoes. She ...

... middle of paper ...

... the eyes

of the church cheating is considered a sin, a sin on both the part of

the married person and the other one. Absolon should not, "caste…a

lovely look on hem," when he is collecting money in Church, but he

still does. Nicholas too, treats Alisoun as an object of desire,

rather than a married woman. He shows no respect for their marriage

when he has sex with Alisoun under the same roof as John, but

continues to cokewold him.

Throughout 'The Miller's Tale' we see how marriage is abused and

manipulated to people's advantage. I feel that Chaucer is making the

reader deliberately aware of how easy it is to cokewold someone and

how quickly you can caught in a trap where there is no escape, just

like John. If there's one thing you should take on board from this

poem its that, "man sholde wedde his similitude."

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