The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale Lies and Deceit Quotes

The love in which Nicholas partakes must be kept "derne," or hidden, because it's illicit, occurring with married women. Nicholas's slyness and privacy are necessary to protect him from those who would condemn his affairs, and his appearing like a meek maiden is a disguise similarly taken up to protect himself from censure.

Alisoun's request for caution and secrecy accord well with Nicholas's character. The story also suggests that this is the character of clerks more generally. Nicholas decides to seduce Alisoun while John is away in part because "clerkes been ful subtile and ful queynte" (clerks are sly) (172).

By portraying the ability to trick people as characteristic of clerks, Nicholas casts doubt upon the honesty of clerks as a whole. The tale raises the question of whether clerks ever use their cunning for honorable purposes both through Nicholas's actions and by the behavior of the clerks at the end of the story.

By referring here to John as "sely" (stupid) and jealous, the text somewhat mitigates Nicholas and Alisoun's treachery, suggesting that John deserves to be tricked.

This passage subtly invokes sex with the words "privetee" and "queynte," which both have a second meaning of genitals. Alisoun's feigning of distress here is all the more repugnant given our knowledge of John's sincere concern for his wife, who is the only person he is truly worried about saving from the flood.

The haste with which Nicholas and Alisoun go to bed suggests that their desires are uncontrollable and overwhelming. This characterization contrasts with the image of John snoring soundly in his tub. The lovers seem healthy and energetic, whereas John appears old and decrepit.

Alisoun's humiliation of Absolon is all the more successful because Nicholas, his romantic rival, witnesses it. This scene, like the one in which the townspeople gather around John to laugh at him, emphasizes that humiliation is only possible with an audience.

Alisoun is not the only one who's being deceptive in this scene: although Absolon has promised to leave Alisoun alone after she gives him a kiss, he has no intention of doing so. He hopes she will have sex with him, perhaps even intending to force himself on her.

Of all the deceptions the characters engage in, Nicholas and Alisoun's assertion that John is crazy is perhaps the worst. With it, they strip John of his status in the community and rob him of his ability to be heard and believed when he speaks.