In the prologue, the Miller is conveyed as being mischievous and witty when he clearly implies that the host Harry Bailly is to blame for his drunkenness-‘And therefore if that I misspeke or seye, Wite it the ale of Southwerk.’ As Harry Bailly is the landlord of the Tabard Inn at Southwark, The Miller here is making the host responsible for getting him drunk. As well as this, the Miller is portrayed as being very humorous and clever when he provokes the Reeve using patronising and sarcastic tone of voice. He reassures the Reeve who is his enemy that his wife would not cheat on him-‘But I sey nat therefore that thou art oon.’ In fact, the Miller is implying the opposite to this as he regards the Reeve as being a cuckold. This suggests that the Miller is very smart thus it seem possible that this drunken ‘cherl’ could have constructed this tale on his own.
However, it seems unconvincing that the Miller could have beautifully structured this tale. The use of parody is evident in the fairy tale like style in which the Miller begins this tale-‘whilom ther was dwellinge.’ This opening parodies the Knight’s Tale. Similarly, the Miller has structured his tale in the form of a love triangle between Alison, Nicholas and Absolon. This allows the Miller to mimic the structure used in the Knight’s Tale. In addition, the Knight’s idealistic courtly values and romantic valour are deeply parodied by the Miller. The language used by Nicholas during the wooing process of Alison is in the style of a courtly lover-‘lemman, love me al atones, or I nol dyen.’ He is indicating that he would rather die than not to have her love. This is used by the Miller to show how unrealistic and unpractical the courtly lovers are and consequently, mocks the courtly love procedure and chivalry behaviour. In conclusion, it seems unconvincing that a drunken Miller could maintain the constant parody of the Knight’s tale and therefore would not be capable of telling tale so carefully and precisely structured.
The tale is set in contemporary and realistic world-‘Whilom ther was dwellinge at Oxenford.’ Oxford is an urban university town, which contrasts to the romantic and historical setting of Athens in the Knight’s tale. This allows the Miller to demonstrate realism, which is not present in the Knight’s Tale.
As fabliaux were very popular with the bourgeois middle classes, the Miller would have been familiar with the bawdy and crude and sexually outrageous behaviour of the characters. The language used to convey the Miller’s tone of voice is direct, coarse and bawdy. Realistic and jovial tone is employed by the Miller to depict Alison-‘She was a primerole, a piggesnie.’ The alliteration and the repletion of the harsh ‘p’ sound suggest a degrading and casual attitude to women that existed in the middle ages. The common and colloquial term-‘wench’ is used to describe Alison. This term shows the lack of respect for women in those days as they were dominated by men.
Furthermore, Alison is shown as being only good enough ‘For any lord to leggen in his bedde, Or yet for any good yeman to wedde.’ This emphasise the widely acknowledged anti-feminist attitudes of the middle classes which were fuelled by the Church teachings based heavily on the writing off St. Jerome, St. Paul and Theophrastus. This also generates a big contrast between Alison and Emily as Emily was put on a pedestal whereas Alison is illustrated as being very common.
The Miller uses animal imagery when he states that Alison was kept ‘narwe in cage’ by John. This shows the widespread view on marriage in the 14th century as women were generally thought as being very devious an deceiving therefore husbands had to keep them closely confined and under control. This also suggest that it was foolish for men like John to marry someone of a younger age as they were very likely to get cuckolded. As a result, they had to restrain their wives in order to gain authority over them.
On the other hand, the references to Cato and the branch of one of the seven arts-astrology do not seem to suit the Miller. ‘He knew nat Catoun’ is a reference to Cato who was a 4th century classical philosopher. He came up with the theory that men should marry women of similar age and social status. The fact that the Miller knew about Cato seems unlikely, as he was an uneducated man. Consequently, this piece of knowledge seems to belong to the learned and sophisticated Chaucer as Chaucer had a passion for astrology like Nicholas and had also written ‘Treatise on the Astrolabe.’ As a consequence, it does not seem justified that a man like the Miller would have known about Latin Literature and astrology. Chaucer has added this reference to add humour as john is portrayed as being foolish for not knowing about Cato, which would have been a common view, held by the Medieval people.
All in all, the Miller’s Tale’s bawdy and humorous nature could be seen as convincing and well suited to a drunken ‘cherl’ like the Miller. However, the references to education, philosophy, the sophisticated and complex structure employed and the consistent imagery makes it unconvincing and impossible that the Miller could have told this story. To conclude, I do not believe that a drunken cherl would tell a tale so beautifully structured and delightfully crafted.