Canterbury Tales - Comparison of the Millers Tale and the Knights Tal

A Comparison of the Millers Tale and the Knights Tale It is common when considering The Canterbury Tales to discuss how some narrations seem designed to emphasise the themes of others. Two such tales be the Millers Tale2 and the Knights Tale3. At first glance these cardinal tales seem an incongruous pairing. The Knights Tale is told by an eminent person, is an historical romance which b arly escapes a tragic ending, and its themes are universal the relationship of individuals to providence, fortune and free go forth. The Millers Tale is told by a drunken cherl (MT 3182), is a farcical fabliau, and has a plot, not themes4. And yet, in my opinion, there is some(prenominal) to be gained by reading the Millers Tale with the themes and characters of the Knights Tale firmly in mind. The juxtaposition of the Millers Tale to the Knights Tale makes its very lack of significance significant5. These two tales have seemingly opposite doctrines, and yet, it seems to me, both have the sam e object to encourage us to survive the misfortunes and uncertainties of life as best we can. The Knights Tale tells us to maken vertu of necessitee(KT 3042) while the Millers Tale expects every wight to laughen at this stryf(MT 3849). The Millers Tale is designed to quite (MT 3127) the Knights Tale. It certainly matches it in quality of composition, but repays the other tale mainly through its use of comedy. Humour throws new light on the characters and actions of the preceeding tale. The folly of the carpenter in the Millers Tale is by no means the whole comic device used by Chaucer to create humour, but it is central in many ways. He is, in theory, the authority figure of the tale, and it therefore opens with him ... ...e Chaucer Third Edition (Oxford OUP, 1987), The Millers Tale. on the whole line references to the Millers Tale will be given in text, preceded by the initials MT. 3. Larry Benson, The Riverside Chaucer Third Edition (Oxford OUP, 1987), The Knights Tale. All line references to the Knights Tale will be given in text, preceded by the initials KT. 4. Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer The Canterbury Tales (Oxford OUP, 1989), p. 101. 5. Cooper, p. 101. 6. Cooper, p. 99. 7. Robert Miller, The Millers Tale as a Complaint, Chaucer Review, 5 (1970), p. 147-160. This from p. 150. 8. Derek Pearsall, The Canterbury Tales II Comedy, In Piero Boitani and Jill Mann (eds), The Cambridge Chaucer Companion (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 125-142. This from, p. 131. 9. Cooper, 99. 10. Pearsall, p. 129.