Gender Role Reversal in the Miller's Tale

Painting of Alisoun standing over John the Carpenter

                                        Gender Role Reversal in The Miller's Tale

    People who read The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer may easily be able to tell the writing is from the Middle Ages because of the vulgar humor and gender roles set in some of the Tales. For this project, The Miller's Tale will be examined to show that amidst all of the dark humor, the character’s gender roles are very different in relation to the time period it was written in. Therefore, in Miller's Tale, even amidst the dark humor, the gender roles of the female and male characters are seemingly reversed. 

    To continue, although this was written in 1392, in the late Middle Ages, the character of Alisoun seems to have the power that women of this time period did not easily have. According to Kathy Lavezzo Alisoun showed independence and power in Miller’s Tale. This is expressed when Lavezzo writes, “Not only is Alisoun unscathed by the close of the Miller’s Tale, but she also exhibits a notable degree of agency… Alisoun’s prime moment of power occurs during the notorious misdirected kiss sequence” (Lavezzo 8). This quote refers to the section in the Tale where she rejects her male caller Absolon. Not only were women seen as objects at this time, but they also had little to no say in who they were with romantically. Alisun fought this, in a very empowering and masculine way. By making him kiss her arse in rejection, it exhibits a type of power that was not typical of women in this time period. Giving his input Joseph Perry writes,“As such a figure, on the other hand, Alisoun seems to generate, more than she affects, the tale's plot, which nevertheless grants her a kind of power in the tale” (Perry 2). This shows how Chaucer decided to give her power in this tale, that was not typically allotted to females.

    Furthermore, the gender roles seem to be reversed here since the Male characters are seemingly the ones who are punished for adultery. In the Middle Ages, it was way more common that the woman would more so suffer the consequences of adultery. This is because a man at this time should have proper control over his wife. The male characters are Abolon, Nicholas, and John. In the end, despite being cheated on by John the Carpenter is actually seen as a laughing stock of the town. Absolon punished Nicholas, by sticking a hot stick up his rear, in reaction to Alisoun punishing Absolon tricking him into kissing her rear. The dark humor and love triangle action actually make these characters lose their masculinity in the end. Shannon Forbes writes about Absolon’s lack of masculinity. This is seen when Forbes writes, “Perhaps most seriously, however, Absolon fails to consistently enact the role of the courtly lover because he cannot successfully execute his male authority over the female object of his love” (Forbes 5). Here Forbes suggests that Alisouns’s power seems to stop Absolon from forcing Alisoun to love him. 

       To sum it up, by using these sources, this project will further prove that the gender roles are reversed in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale. This is due to the main points that Alisoun exhibits power that women did not typically have in the Middle ages. The power Alisoun has with her choices and rejections causes the male characters to lose their masculinity. This is seen through their inability to love her and their punishments for adultery. Therefore, the gender roles of the female and male characters are swapped in Chaucer's Miller’s Tale.