Apes and Japes: Laughter and Animality in the "Miller's Tale."

Description: Argues that, rooted in "animality" that is "carefully performed and constructed," the humor of MilT "functions to erect a conception of humanity over and against the ostracized and inferior semi-human." The Miller performs his animality, and, abjecting Absolon through laughter, Alisoun and Nicholas establish a hierarchy and take the "position of superior 'human.'" Comments on suggestive language in the tale and connections with Boccaccio's "Decameron," 7.1, displaying ways that "laughter [is] always unequal."

Chaucer Subjects: Miller and His Tale
Language and Word Studies
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations