The Millers Tale Essay Example

The Millers Tale Paper There is clearly no sexual attraction between Alison and her much older husband, John the carpenter. Absolon with his ridiculously absurd attempts to woo women and more specifically Alison is similarly ineffective in successfully conquering her. It could be possible then to deduce a lesson about the most successful methods to employ when attempting to woo women, similar to those used by Nicholas, the most successful of Alisons possible three suitors who manages to finally accept him as her lover she hire love him graunted ate laste. In the execution of his intricate plan devised to enable him to finally commit adultery with Alison, Nicholas proves himself to be very intelligent. Despite the carpenters disapproval of prying into divine secrets mentioned in line 56, Nicholas captures his interest and John submits to listening eagerly to his revelations about Goddes privetee in line 346. In order to ensure Johns belief and co-operation with the plan, the method in which Nicholas approaches him is crucial. We will write a custom essay sample on The Millers Tale specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Millers Tale specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Millers Tale specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Nicholas makes John initially feel privileged to know the information about the forthcoming flood when really Nicholas is covering his own back and limit the social damage that this lie will do, especially to Nicholas reputation as an established and competent astronomer. Nicholas makes a preposterous statement in line 450, I wol nat tellen Goddes privetee because he has been revealing supposedly divine secrets since line 406. Also, the privetee involved here is not very godly; Nicholas is simply making his story elaborate and pious to limit Johns questioning of the absurd story. Nicholas also appeals to Johns cupidity in his lines 473/4 by suggesting that they will posses and rule the whole world. Such a sely man as John is hardly going to argue with such a learned scholar as Nicholas who foresees such an event which will benefit him so richly. Nicholas also uses absurd compliments and flatteries to win Johns co-operation with the plan: thou art so wys, it needeth thee nat teche, which is a completely ridiculous thing to say after Nicholas has given him such precise instructions. Nicholas motives behind the plot are known to the reader, but despite this, it is clear that such an absurd tale must have been concocted by someone with ulterior issues at hand. When Nicholas approaches John about the plot, he is already shocked by Nicholas bizarre behaviour and confused as to why this is; after he is told John is so distracted by the fear of the impending flood he cant see what appears so obvious to the reader. Despite the more absurd aspects of the scheme, like Nicholas insisting on separate tubs for Alison and John to ironically ensure that bitwixe yow shal be no sinne, John remains unaware of the real reason, showing his nai vety. Upon his discovery of Nicholas in a state of mental disturbance, John makes a statement about how learned astronomers can fall into trouble if they are too busy looking at the stars and not what they are doing. The ponderous moral he saugh nat that (line 353) rebounds on the carpenter because it is not the learned astronomer but the simple man who is about to fall blindly into the pit. It is typical that John is often full of wisdom and mockery of the learned man, describing how it is a sin to pry into Gods business and implying that he is better than scholars like Nicholas, but is soon eager to listen to his advice and benefit from his knowledge. This illustrates how fickle and nai ve John really is, and how cunning Nicholas has been in deceiving him so well, making John believe he is really the one benefiting from the whole plot. The devout carpenter is also easily impressed by Nicholas blaphmous assurance it is Christes couseil which is simply part of the adulterous deception. The fact that Nicholas uses such religious terms to deceive a sely man and cover for his adulterous actions shows Nicholas to not be very religious or morally driven. It is ironic that in line 53/6 the theory that husbands shouldnt pry into their wives secrets, which concern Alisons sexual life, into which a husband should not enquire into if he wishes to remain contentedly assured of her fidelity. Nicholas is shown to be withdrawn and fairly unsociable but well-experienced in clandestine and secret love-affairs, and when Alison warns him ye moste been ful deerne, as in this cas he assures her of his competency to execute the cunning plan without the carpenters detection. Nicholas is comic in the implication that he and John are both single, guileless men whose charming innocence is symbolised by the white duck in line 468. The ironic centre of the tale is perhaps represented in the line a man woot litel what him shal bitide because it is the carpenter and not Nicholas who is ignorant of what is about to happen and who, despite his comments, is eager to believe Nicholas forecast of the forthcoming events. However, the future doe should an unforeseen shock for Nicholas who thinks himself in control of the events and also for Absolon who shortly prior to his humiliation ensures himself that some manner of comfort is coming his way. The character of Nicholas is perhaps not the most significant individual personality in the tale but it is quite crucial to the comic and ironic elements that are strong themes running throughout. Nicholas is definitely the most important character in the elaborate deception plot and therefore plays quite a significant role in the climax of the tale. Zi e North 12fii Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Geoffrey Chaucer section.