English Literature – Miss d’Auban
What do we learn from Chaucer’s description about the character of Alison?
The character of Alison in ‘The Miller’s Tale’ is portrayed as the perfect vision of sexual desire. Her husband the carpenter, their lodger Nicholas and the parish clerk Absolon are all in various forms of pursuit of her throughout the tale, while Alison’s role is little more than to observe their efforts. Her actions throughout the tale are far from moral, and so her initial description is important in portraying the kind of character with whom the reader is to be acquainted. She is shown as physically desirable, well groomed and enigmatic, in the sense that she is more mischievous than she seems. The description shows Alison to be the embodiment of female sexuality, making the ridiculous actions of the other characters more justifiable.
The most obvious aspect of the description of Alison is that she is sexually desirable to men. While it is Chaucer who is writing the description, he is writing as though the Miller is describing her, and through the way in which Alison is described, it becomes obvious that the Miller is attracted to her. He begins the description at her “ceint”, starting the image of her at her girdle, somewhere below her waist. It then moves to her “barmclooth”, continuing to hover around her lower body, describing how her “goore” lies upon her thighs and buttocks, her “lendes”. The description then moves to her chest and her “smok”, and then returns to her “girdle”. By focusing on the sexual regions of her body, Chaucer shows that the Miller is interested in Alison sexually, more than as a wife. This is further implied by the line “for any lord to leggen in his bedde” preceding “for any good yeman to wedde.” Therefore it is clear that Alison is an object of lust. The Miller also shows that Alison is appealing to all the senses, calling her “blissful on to see”, “softer than the wolle is of a wether” and calling her mouth “sweet as bragot”. Playing on all the senses makes Alison more real and more enticing, so that the reader too is entranced by her desirability.
