Compare and contrast how the three male characters are presented to us

Compare and contrast how the three male characters are presented to us in The Millers Tale and consider their roles in the Fabliau. The three male characters in Chaucer’s ‘The Millers Tale’ present many of the classic themes in and genre ‘Fabliau’. In English literature there is only a small amount of these tales and half of those are Chaucer’s. While in French literature there are over 300 stories. Nicholas is presented at the start of the ‘tale’ as gentle (hende) shy and therefore trusted and experienced in passionate courtly love, we can tell from his appearance and description that he will be the stereotypical fabliau character who is ‘cunning’ and always ‘makes fun of’ the other more foolish characters. John the carpenter is given a short description and it is clear by the way he speaks that he is not very intelligent therefore his foolishness will be punished john represents the stereotypical character of the duped husband (old and jealous).Alison is the faithless wife (young and sexually active). Sexual and practical jokes play a large part in the Millers Tale, for example Alison tricking Absolon into kissing her ‘arse’, this idea however comes from a raucous Middle English song called ‘Old Hogan’s Adventure’. The fact that Nicholas is short and brawny in his manner and speech contrast his feminist presentation at the start of the tale. The three characters of Nicholas John and the wife Absolon fit securely into the fabliau theme of the ‘love triangle’ a plot that always lends itself to sexual jokes. One of the best jokes in the Miller’s Tale is the way the characters use the language oaf courtly love to gain their selfish lustful ends, a major theme in many Fabliau tales. Nicholas and Absolon c... ...f the fabliau. The tale is ribald in context; farce is a obvious form of humour in the Miller Tale as is irony. Chaucer plays off text against text to create ironic effect, the carpenter is a perfect ironic remedy to the Mi8ller’s advice of in the prologue, we learn that the best way for husbands to avoid being cuckolded is to; â€Å"An hoiusbonde shal nat been inqiusityf / Of Goddes pryvetee, nor of his wyf.† The three male characters in the Miller’s tale conform very well to the personalities and themes of the fabliau. But Chaucer changes his characters so they do not completely match genre, as we have seen with their different conventions and methods of acquiring their goals, Nicholas is direct and straight forward, Absolon is indirect and foolish and hence gets punished for it and John is honest and gullible and does not have Alison at the top of his list.