Miller's Tale is "oddly innocent"

V.A. Kolve notes, tale could be cynical and sour, but features make it funny and
oddly innocent
3 fabliau motifs(misdirected kiss and arse-branding, re-enactment of flood)
Fabliau denatured of obscenity, bsuqueness and nastiness
Positive emphasis on sexual pleasure and desire, displayed as natural in young p
eople
"Nature, Youth and Noah's Flood" is Kolve paper
"there as the carpenter is wont to lie
Business of mirth and solace"
Friars in chancel began to sang(church bells ringing as fooling around, pulling
against church and propriety)
Young, skittish colt. Lambs, etc
Youth and sex freedom though images of nature and young lively animals
--Well-plotted, numerous narrative lines, images and literary allusions to produce
perfect farce
Slapstick comedy, etc
RELIGIOUS PARODY
many relig images
"Mystery plays" popular religious dramas, Miller's Tale borrows
Plays were put together by trade guilds
Comic spin, secular spin to make it exciting for everyday viewers
"Within a tale that recalls in its action the flood, cleansing of sin, prefigure
destruction of world to come, Chaucer chose to explore possibility of comic, pu
rely secular narrative art"
Misapplication of religious ideas there deliberately to suggest moral framework
which is then subverted
-Key subtext:
Virgin Mary and Joseph(Enunciation and Nativity)
Noah's Flood
---Miller's Tale evokes Virgin Mary and Joseph(a bit odd, how?)
Mary and Joseph were commonly portrayed as old man and young woman
There to suggest that marriage between J&M not sexual relationship, more spiritu
al and abstract(also to suggest not bio father of Christ)
HINTS>
"Legend" of a carpenter and wyf(legends usually bout saints)
John and Alison as Joseph and Mary
Nicholas parody of angel Gabriel(angelus ad vergenum sung by Nich, addressing Ma
ry)
Mystery play bout J&M:
Writer mapping idea of old man and young wife onto comic stereotype of old man b
eing cheated on by young woman
--NOAH'S ARK
Highlight of tale is parody of Great Flood
Very popular in mystery plays and sermons, good spectacle
Appealing to young(animals going into ark, etc)
Nicholas tricks John into believing second flood going to happen, and only John,
Nich and Ali will survive
(Noah's Ark replaced by three tubs hanging by rafters)
Comic deflation of epic account of Noah and Ark
Sitting in three tubs
Nicholas plays on John's ignorance, class dimension
Expects him to only be familiar with story from mystery plays
Carpenters often involved in Ark stories(so believed he had a natural place in i
t)
NOAH'S WIFE

Not mentioned in genesis(has a wife, but not really a character) Stock comic cha
racter in mystery plays
Nich uses reputation of Noah's Wife from mystery plays to separate John from Ali
son(that she was so annoying it would have been better to have own ship)
Mystery plays intensely farcical, Noah and wife in physical fight when trying to
load her on Ark(real slapstick)
-Comic resolution
Sets up three men
Jealous old fool, John(guarding wife from adultery, get comeuppance)
Smartypants Nicholas gets comeuppance from poker(sexually aggressive)
Simpring Absolon who is squeamish of farting(kisses arse)
Shows how the men act out their desires, they all get comeuppance for foibles
They're dicks, they get screwed over
Alison gets away scot-free despite having the affair
(Alison does wrong, but she's a young woman looking for pleasure elsewhere)
-Biblical and bawdy elements brought together
Tubs in rafters, John waiting for floodwaters to rise so cut rope
Clamber out of tubs when he's asleep
^Setup
Absolon tries to seduce one last time
Winds up kissing her ass
Absolon not pleased, prissy about hygiene
Decides to get vengeance
Results in Nicholas getting arse-branding(comeuppance)
Physically aggressive to others, gets physical comeup
Religious iconography crashes back after arse-branding
"Water! Water!"
Cut rope, John breaks arm
Not set out to be blasmphemous, immoral, etc