The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale Sex Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Line). We used the line numbering found on Librarius's online edition.
| Quote #1 Thi clerk was cleped hende Ncholas. |
One of Nicholas's many talents is conducting illicit love affairs. The word "solas" (solace) refers to the cure for love-sickness: sex. This way of talking about love and sex comes from the medieval courtly tradition in which young bachelors complained to their unobtainable lady-loves of horrible suffering, which could only be relieved by the woman's sexual favors.
| Quote #2 For she was wilde and yong, and he was old |
John is terrified that Alisoun will cheat on him, thus making him into a "cokewold" (cuckold, a man cheated on by his wife). It was a common belief at this time that an older husband could not possibly keep up sexually with a young wife, and that therefore she would find her satisfaction elsewhere.
| Quote #3 She was a prymerole, a piggesnye, |
This is an example of "The Miller's Tale" as a parody of the romance genre, which praised women in much higher terms. The women in romance are worthy of the gods; Alisoun is worthy of being a lord's concubine.
