Chaucer – ‘The Miller’s Tale’

The Canterbury Tales

The frame narrative –

The Tales are about a group of folk who travel together
between London and Canterbury on a pilgrimage – a journey
made for reasons of religious devotion. In this instance, the
pilgrims are travelling to the Canterbury Cathedral to pray
before the tomb of Saint Thomas a Becket (a Christian
martyr). It is a journey of a few days on horseback, so to
keep themselves entertained the pilgrims tell stories to each
other.
Note: The Miller leads the pilgrims out of town with his
bagpipes and is the second to tell his tale.
 William Blake’s Portrait of Chaucer’s Pilgrims
from the ‘General Prologue’ to The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer’s Rogue’s
Gallery
Note the Miller, who leads the group from the Tabard Inn to the sound of his bagpipes.
 Description of Miller in Middle English
(from ‘The General Prologue’ to The Canterbury Tales)

545
The Millere was a stout carl for the nones,
      

Ful byg he was of brawn, and eek of bones;

That proved wel, for over al, ther he cam, 550

At wrastlynge he wolde have alwey the ram.

He was short-sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre,
555
Ther nas no dore that he nolde heve of harre,
Or breke it at a rennyng with his heed.
His berd, as any sowe or fox, was reed, 560

And therto brood, as though it were a spade.

Upon the cope right of his nose he hade
A werte, and theron stood a toft of herys,
Reed as the brustles of a sowes erys;
His nosethirles blake were and wyde;
A swerd and a bokeler bar he by his syde;
His mouth as wyde was as a greet forneys,
He was a janglere and a goliardeys,
And that was moost of synne and harlotriës.
Wel koude he stelen corn and tollen thriës,
And yet he hadde a thombe of gold, pardee.
A whit cote and a blew hood wered he.
A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne,
And therwithal he broghte us out of towne.
 The Miller
       The MILLER was a strong fellow, be it known,

 
The MILLER was a strong fellow, be it known,
Hardy, big of brawn and big of bone;
Which was well proved, for wherever a festive day
550 550 At wrestling, he always took the prize away. 550
He was stoutly built, broad and heavy;
He lifted each door from its hinges, that easy,
Or break it through, by running, with his head.
His beard, as any sow or fox, was red,
555 555 And broad it was as if it were a spade. 555
Upon his nose right on the top he had
A wart, and thereon stood a tuft of hairs,
Red as the bristles in an old sow's ears;
His nostrils they were black and wide.
560 560 A sword and buckler he carried by his side. 560
His mouth was like a furnace door for size.
He was a jester and knew some poetry,
But mostly all of sin and obscenity.
He could steal corn and three times charge his fee;
565 565 And yet indeed he had a thumb of gold. 565
A blue hood he wore and a white coat;
A bagpipe he could blow well, up and down,
And with that same he brought us out of town.
 Prose translation of the Miller’s portrait

The Miller was a very husky fellow, tremendous in bone and

in brawn which he used well to get the best of all comers: in
wrestling he always won the prize. He was stock, broad, and
thickset. There was no door which he could not pull off its
hinges or break by ramming it with his head. His beard was
as red as any sow or fox, and as broad as a spade. At the
right top of his nose he had a wart, from which there grew a
tuft of hairs red as the bristles of a sow’s ears, and his nostrils
were wide and black. A sword and a shield hung at his side.
His mouth was as huge as a large furnace, and he was a
jokester and ribald clown, most of whose jests were of sin
and harlotry. He knew quite well how to steal grain and
charge thrice over, but yet he really remained reasonably
honest. The coat he wore was white and the hood blue. He
could play the bagpipe well and let us out of town to its
music.
Whilom ther was dwellinge at Oxenford
A riche gnof, that gestes heeld to bord,
And of his craft he was a carpenter.
With him ther was dwellinge a poure scoler,
... [79 ff]

Once upon a time there lived at Oxford a rich

peasant, a carpenter by trade, who took
boarders into his home. A poor scholar boarded
with him.
 ‘As I hope to prosper, things are going well; the bag is
open. Now let’s see who will tell the next tale, for,
certainly, this game is off to a fine start. Now, Sir
Monk, you tell a tale, if you know something to match
the Knight’s.’ (7-10)
The Knight
 ‘cherl’(s)

Miller – a ‘cherl’ (peasant/low born) Reeve (who is also a carpenter)

The tale has given rise to a number of graphic books
‘Pilatis vois’ – a loud bombastic voice.
That voice is actually a stage voice – it refers to
the swearing, ranting, bragging speech of the
biblical villain Pontius Pilate in the Medieval
English plays about Christ’s crucifixion
As opposed to the official feast, one might say that carnival
celebrates temporary liberation from the prevailing truth of the
established order; it marks the suspension of all hierarchical rank,
privileges, norms and prohibitions. Carnival was the true feast of
time, the feast of becoming, change and renewal. It was hostile to
all that was immortalized and complete. [Bakhtin, Rabelais and his
World, 1969, p 109]

Breughel – fight between Carnival and Lent

‘Symbolic inversion’ may be broadly defined as an act of expressive behaviour which
inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or in some fashion presents an alternative to
commonly held cultural codes, values and norms be they linguistic, literary or
artistic, religious, social and political. [Barbara Babcock, The Reversible World, 1978,
p. 14]

Breughel
Fabliau – the most important comic genre for Chaucer
‘A Fabliau is a brief comic tale in verse, usually scurrilous
and often scatological or obscene. The style is simple,
vigorous, and straightforward; the time is the present, and
the settings real, familiar places, the characters are
ordinary sorts – tradesmen, peasants, priests, students,
restless wives; the plots are realistically motivated tricks
and ruses. The fabliaux thus present a lively image of
everyday life among the middle and lower classes. . .
[However] the plots convincing though they seem,
frequently involve incredible degrees of gullibility in the
victims and of ingenuity and sexual appetite in the
trickster-heroes and heroines.
[The Riverside Chaucer, p. 7]
 Heile of Basle (Antwerp)
Heile, an Antwerp prostitute, makes appointments with three different men for
different hours of the night. William, a miller, comes first. After he has enjoyed
Heile’s favors for a time, the second man, a priest, comes at this appointed hour.
Heile tells William to hide in a trough which hangs from the rafters, then lets the
priest in. After thrice satisfying the priest, she (and William in the trough above)
hears him preach a little sermon on how God will soon drown all the people in the
world with a terrible flood. Then comes at his appointed hour the third lover, a smith
named Hugh. Heile tells him that he cannot come in now, for she is not well. When
Hugh begs for at least a kiss, Heile tells the priest to let the foolish smith kiss his
behind. The priest puts his behind out a little window and Hugh kisses it with great
zeal. When he realises from the feel and the smell what has happened, the angry
smith runs home and heats an iron. When he returns and insists on a second kiss,
the priest assumes his former position and Hugh strikes. “Water! Water! I am dead!’
cried the priest. Hearing this cry, William thinks that the flood the priest had spoken
of has come, and he cuts the rope that holds up his trough. He breaks his arm and his
thigh when he comes crashing down. The priest, thinks Williams must be the devil,
runs into a corner and falls into a privy. This story shows what happens to men who
deal with prostitutes.
 Modern Prose Translation

The Miller was a very husky fellow, tremendous in bone and in

brawn which he used well to get the best of all comers: in wrestling
he always won the prize. He was stocky, broad, and thickset. There
was no door which he could not pull off its hinges or break by
ramming it with his head. His beard was as red as any sow or fox,
and as broad as a spade. At the right on top of his nose he had a
wart, from which there grew a tuft of hairs red as the bristles of a
sow’s ears, and his nostrils were wide and black. A sword and a
shield hung at his side. His mouth was as huge as a large furnace,
and he was a jokester and a ribald clown, most of whose jests were
of sin and scurrility. He knew quite well how to steal grain and
charge thrice over, but yet he really remained reasonably honest.
The coat he wore was white and the hood blue. He could play the
bagpipe well and led us out of town to its music.
 Opening paragraph of The Canterbury Tales

When April with its gentle showers has pierced the March
drought to the root and bathed every plant in the moisture
which will hasten flowering; when Zephyrus with his sweet
breath has stirred the new shoots in every wood and filed, and
the young sun has run its half-course in the Ram, and small
birds sing melodiously, so touched in their hearts by Nature
that they sleep all night with open eyes – then folks long to go
on pilgrimages, and palmers to visit foreign shores and distant
shrines, known in various lands; and especially from every
shire’s end of England they travel to Canterbury, to seek the
hold blessed martyr who helped them when they were sick.
Images of Spring
Hey ho (fabliau)

A Penis Tree
Monumental ‘toute’
 Nicholas anon leet fle a fart
As greet as it had been a thonder dent

Nicholas let flay a fart with a noise as great as a clap of thunder

Alison, Nicholas, Absolom
 Alison
Fair was this youthful wife, and therewithal
As weasel's was her body slim and small.
A girdle wore she, barred and striped, of silk.
An apron, too, as white as morning milk Wanton (inviting eye)
About her loins, and full of many a gore;
White was her smock, embroidered all before
And even behind, her collar round about,
Of coal-black silk, on both sides, in and out; ‘weasel’ (126)
The strings of the white cap upon her head ‘pretty colt’ (155)
Were, like her collar, black silk worked with thread, ‘kid or calf’ (152)
Her fillet was of wide silk worn full high: ‘swallow’ (150)
And certainly she had a lickerish eye. ‘wether’ (141)
She’d thinned out carefully her eyebrows two,
And they were arched and black as any sloe.
She was a far more pleasant thing to see
Than is the newly budded young pear-tree; pear-tree (140)
And softer than the wool is on a wether. gold coins (148)
Down from her girdle hung a purse of leather, ‘primrose’ (160)
Tasselled with silk, with latten beading sown. ‘tender chicken’ (160)
In all this world, searching it up and down,
So gay a little doll, I well believe ‘little doll’ (145)
Or such a wench, there’s no man can conceive. ‘her mouth was sweet as bragget or as mead’ (148)
Far brighter was the brilliance of her hue
Than in the tower the gold coins minted new
And songs came shrilling from her pretty head
As from a Swallow’s sitting on a shed
Therewith she’d dance too, and could play and sham
Like any kid or calf about [Aitssort
dam. of ‘blazon’
(125 ff.) –a detailed portrait of beauty seen in parts]
. . . kept close watch upon her, for she was wild
and young, while he was old and though
himself likely to be cuckolded. Being ignorant,
he did not know of Cato’s advice that a man
should marry a woman similar to him. Men
should wed their contemporaries, for youth
and age are often at odds. But since he had
fallen into the trap, he had to bear his burden
like other people. (118-124)
This carpenter had recently married a wife,
Whom he loved more than he loved his life;
And she had become eighteen years of age.
Jealous he was and held her close in cage.,
For she was wild and young, and he was old;
(113-117)
 
 The Seduction
Now sire, and eft, sire, so bifel the cas
• That on a day this hende Nicholas
• Fil with this yonge wyf to rage and pleye,
• Whil that hir housbonde was at Oseneye
• As clerkes ben ful subtile and ful queynte; [devious]
• And prively he caught hire by the queynte; [crotch]
• And seyde, “Ywis, but if ich have my wille,
• For decrne love of thee, lemman, I spille.”
• And heeld hire harde by the haunchebones,
• And seyde, “lemman, love me al atones,
• Or I wold yen, also God me save!” (163 ff)
 
Now, sir, and again, sir, one day it happened that clever Nicholas began to tease
and flirt with this young wife while her husband was at Oseney (for clerics are
subtle and sly), and he slipped his hand intimately between her legs, and said:
‘Surely, unless I can fulfil my burning desire for you sweetheart, I will die.’ Then he
grasped her roughly by the hips and said: ‘Sweetheart, make love with me right
now or I will die, God save me!’
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale
[A Whiter Shade of Pale – Procol Harum]