When Nicholas first arrives in John’s house, he immediately sets his sights on Alison. He tries his hardest to win her over. At first she says no, but then he grabs her by the “qwente” and after 3 lines she agrees to be with him. It’s all very sexual how Nicholas woos her. With him grabbing her she obviously liked it which made her change her mind after three lines.
Alison can be seen in the tale to think for herself and be independent. Even though Nicholas persuaded Alison to love him, and it only took her 3 lines to say yes, she still said no the first time round. This means that she did attempt to resist temptation, which means she can think for herself. She doesn’t need a man to tell her what to do.
It can be clearly seen that John the carpenter loves Alison and would do anything to keep her with him. Which isn’t keeping her happy. He is a jealous man and very suspicious of where she goes and what she does. This results in her staying in the house most of the time, typical for most women in the fourteenth century. When Nicholas sees her he wants her, this almost puts her on a pedestal. It looks as though the men are willing to do anything to get her.
Her staying at home is typically what happens in the fourteenth century for women. Which may be a reason why Alison was tempted into having an affair with Nicholas. This shows the devilish side to Alison, as she has cheated on her husband whom she should stay faithful to. This affair begins when Nicholas woos her, this only takes three lines for her to say yes. So when Absolon tries to woo her, you would have thought that it would have taken him three lines for him to woo her. This doesn’t happen, as she has given her love to Nicholas. She shouldn’t even have given her love to Nicholas, it should be all for John, her husband.
This tale has comic effect on how women are viewed. How Nicholas and Absolon both want to be with her, the comical view comes from what they do to win her over. What people seem to forget is that Chaucer is not writing this tale for women to read. In the fourteenth century men were seen as the imperial ones, women were seen as stay at home housewives. Men would have been the only people to read tales like this one. This may have offended them due to men being made to look stupid, this is because each man gets a fitting punishment for his crime. John falls through the roof, Nicholas has a hot iron pressed on his bottom and Absolon kisses Alisons bottom. All these punishments for one woman, who could be said to have caused all the problems, and she doesn’t get punished at all.
