Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night': 'The Miller's Tale' Revisited

Author / Editor
Box, Terry.

Title
Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night': 'The Miller's Tale' Revisited

Published
College Language Association Journal 37 (1993): 42-54.

Description
Chaucer's MilT and Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' are analogues because each satirizes the conventions of courtly love. Absolon, John, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are "genuine fools" because they can be so easily duped, while Orsino and Viola "manifest foolish attitudes."
Both Chaucer and Shakespeare expand the number of would-be lovers (four in Chaucer and six in Shakespeare), and both use sex-role reversal (effeminate Absolon and disguised Viola).

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.