ChaucerÆs The Canterbury Tales is a curious mix of ribaldry and Christian themes and values, made all the more intriguing by the plot twists he incorporates. At first blush, ChaucerÆs works are coarseùeven lewdùand full of raucous entertainment. The reader cannot help but notice, however, that many of his characters are Christian figuresùa nun, a monk, a friar, and a parson, for example. These characters, along with earthier characters like the miller and the reeve, are on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket, and each of them tells a tale to the reading audience. Chaucer uses the ôodd bedfellowsö concept to compare and contrast real Christianity with hypocrisy or spiritual ignorance throughout the tales, and each story brings out a different aspect of this analysis. Behind the crude jokes and somewhat slapstick humor that pervades many of the tales is a recognition that in spite of spiritual hypocrites, there is such a thing as a true and deep relationship with God. However, most people fail to develop such a relationship. They may have a passing familiarity with the Bible and Biblical principles, but their lives are not governed by them. As a consequence of their spiritual neglect, they suffer many difficulties. At the heart of The Canterbury Tales is ChaucerÆs profound conviction that the world operates according to GodÆs Christian principles and that anyone who violates those principles will pay a price.
In ôThe MillerÆs Tale,ö Chaucer keys on the depravity of the carpenterÆs wife and her lover and the spiritual ignorance of John, the carpenter. This comparison and contrast between the ungodly and the spiritually ignorant asserts one of ChaucerÆs more salient points in the talesùthat even a good person, if ignorant of Christianity, will suffer the pain of a life not lived for God. Certainly, the wife and her lover are not Christian by any standard of measure. Duping th
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