Theme Of Humor In The Miller's Tale

Register to read the introduction… Each character is punished according to his or her character flaw. Their punishment is funny because it highlights the fact that they are not important people, and brings them down to the appropriate level. Nicholas, the guest, is really a troubling and mischievous character. However, the carpenter falls for Nicholas's trick straight away, showing his foolishness. Then he says, "God has some secrets that we shouldn't know. / How blessed are the simple, eye, indeed, / That only know enough to say their creed"(59). This is really ironic because the reader knows it is a trick and people will think the carpenter is simple for believing so quickly, while at the same time he believes he is smart. The carpenter suspects Absalon but not Nicholas of cheating with his wife, when actually Nicholas is the threat. This irony keeps readers at a distance from the tale.

Furthermore, an emotional distance is created between the reader and characters through Chaucer's description, which is used to establish a character successfully. Each character only has one quality or …show more content…
The climax of the story is funny while the plot presents a joke. The plot resembles a joke in which the climax is the punchline. In the climax, each character gets a suitable punishment for what the Miller believes is his or her problem. The clear way the story's two actors intersect make the events seem funny. The author injects many humorous events into the plot and ties all of the events together at the highest point of the story. Therefore, the humor can be easily pointed out through the narrator, the use of irony, the cartoon like characters and the twists of plot All of these elements make the readers feel the tale has been much more funny than tragic, because an emotional distance has been created between the readers and the characters in the