Cheating With Nicholas In The Miller's Tale

In the Miller’s Tale, an old carpenter named Robin marries an 18 year-old woman named Alison. Rightfully, he is fearful that she is cheating on him with a young scholar named Nicholas. However, Nicholas isn’t the only young man attempting to steal the married woman’s heart. Absolon, a clerk, wants to marry the woman. Why does Alison choose to cheat with Nicholas instead of Absolon? The two young men are fairly similar. They are both good-looking, slightly effeminate, educated, young men, but Nicholas wins the heart of the girl and Absolon gets a fart in the face when he quite literally kisses Alison’s “ers”.

Nicholas is a young man with admirable knowledge about the world and love. He furnished his room with astrology books for telling the

However, there is one key reason for why Alison chooses to love Nicholas and torture Absolon. Nicholas is a go-getter, putting himself out there all the way, claiming the love of the beautiful woman. The narrator describes how Nicholas wins the girl, “Whil that hir husbonde was at Oseneye/ (As clerkes been ful subtil and ful quainte)/ and prively he caughte hire by the queinte…” (M.T. 167). Nicholas proceeded to tell Alison that if he had his way, she would love him or he would die.” He took what he wanted and was not shy about it. Instead of proclaiming his love of Alison face-to-face with the young woman, he goes to her house at night and sings his love to her from the front yard. The narrator said, “And dressed him up by a shot-windowe/ That was upon the carpenteres wal./ He singeth in his vois gentil and small…” (M.T. 250) Alison is already with Nicholas at this point in the story and Absolon’s gestures are weak compared to that of his counterpart. Instead of letting Absolon down easy, Alison chooses to play a trick on him and asks Nicholas to conceive of one. So when Absolon shows up at the house again on another night to try and woo her, she had him come to the window, close his eyes and kiss her, but instead of kissing her mouth – “And at the windowe out she putte hir hole,/ And Absolon, him fil no bet ne wers,/ But with his mouth he kiste hir naked