week 9 Flashcards
how is Absolon like a goose?
this foreshadows that he is going to smell something
parody
a parody imitates the serious manner of characteristic features of a particularly literary work in order to make fun of those same features
- parody in the millers tale: courtly love + biblical material
humours - imagery
- Absolons’ hot poker (his dick)
- instruments refer to penis size
- John builds 3 tubs (2 small round ones, 1 long one)
foreshadowing - imagery
some imagery only makes sense when the full tale is read
- Absolon does not like farts –> he has been farted in the face
- Nicholas forecasts the weather –> predicts the flood
- John keeps Alison in a cage –> tub on roof ridge
sweetness - imagery
- Alison is very sweet –> as sweet as apples
- Nicholas –> as sweet as liqourish
- Absolon –> tries to make himself sweet, imitate Nicholas
music - imagery
music is a stand-in for sex
- Nicholas: plays the psaltery and sings
- Absolon: plays the fiddle and sings
- Alison: sings
animals - imagery
Alison, Absolon and John are all referred to with animals, Nicholas is not –> animals are used to degrade characters
great chain of Being (God, angels, man, animals, plants, inanimate objects)
–> Lends auctoritas to the story
how is Alison like a swallow?
swallows leave their nest right before it tumbles down –> Alison leaves the tub right before it tumbles down
genre: fabliau
- fabliau = stories in verse that make you laugh (brief comic tale in verse)
–> flourishes in France between 12th and 14th century - setting: time is the present, the places are real and familiar
- characters: ordinary sorts/folks
- subject matter: everyday life, usually scurrilous, often scatological and obscene (dirty jokes)
- plot: tricks intended to deceive somebody
- fabliau justice: poetic justice, people are punished for their behaviour
the millers tale as fabliau
- setting: Cambridge
- characters: no knights, ladies or squires
- subject matter: student having it off with the wife of a carpenter
- plot: John is being tricked into thinking a second flood is coming, falls asleep, Alison and Nicholas have it off together
- fabliau justice:
–> John is punished (old man marries young woman)
–> Absolon is punished (tries to be Nicholas)
–> Nicholas is punished (tries to be with Alison)
parody - Bible
- Nicholas sings a specific song (the Angels to the Virgin, Angelus ad Virginem)
- both Alison and Mary are daughters of carpenters
imagery - Alison
morning milk, young goat, early spring –> over emphasis that she is very young
she is objectified, sexualized:
- wears a headband to show of her forehead
- wears a broach on her cleavage
- wears shoes that go high up her leg –> allows her to show a lot of leg
imagery
figurative language
imagery is used for many purposes:
- to establish the nature of a character
- to contrast/relate various characters (group them together)
- to foreshadow events (some imagery only makes sense if you have read the whole story)
- for comic effect
