The Miller tells a tale of a young woman, 18 exactly, who becomes involved with an affair with a boarder at her husbands lodge and, to keep the affair alive, plays cruel tricks to get what she wants. She seems respectable and beautiful from the cover, but when examined deeper, her every move revolves around a scandalous life of deceit and trickery. Trapped in a completely loveless marriage, Chaucers description of the young wife seems to suggest that she possesses such wild, beautiful, and desirable qualities that her much older husband had a difficult time containing her, or his raging jealousy.
The name Alison is an English name meaning "truth". (http://www.zelo.com/firstnames/) It's a bit ironic compared to the Alison in the story, considering she has been having an affair with a man that her husband is renting a room to. The name Alison being given to this character is a cover up of who she truly is; just as she is tricking her husband, she is also tricking readers into thinking she is an honest, noble person. Her name goes to better exemplify how everything about Alison is not what it appears to be.
Alisons relationships with others are very complex. Alison and her husband do not have the typical loving marriage; he is many years her senior and she is basically a trophy wife to him. While he absolutely adores Alison, she feels as if she is trapped in this marriage. That may lead to her going off and finding affairs with other men. She is young and not ready to settle down
yet, although she is involved in this relationship with John. Her relationship with Nicholas is quite different. It is full of lust and passion, and she will stop at no lengths to
Chaucer created this character to show the problems that lust can create. Through Alison, he shows how a young, vibrant character can become trapped in a bad situation, may make them do things out of the norm; such as carry out an affair.
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