Chaucer's Allusion to the Sermon on the Mount in the 'Miller's Tale'

Author / Editor
Black, Robert.

Title
Chaucer's Allusion to the Sermon on the Mount in the 'Miller's Tale'

Published
Revue de l'Universite d'Ottawa 55:1 (1985): 23-32.

Description
MilT 3589-92 alludes to Matt. 5:27-30, where Christ condemns lechery, using the images of hand and eye. Chaucer uses the same imagery to condemn the lecher Nicholas, whose punishment is to be burned a "hand-brede aboute" his "nether ye." The same allusion and imagery appear in ParsT, where lechery is described as the cause of Noah's flood.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.