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Unlike Alison, the wife in “The Miller’s Tale”, who is much younger than her husband, the miller’s wife is probably at least as old as the miller, considering they have a twenty-year-old daughter. The miller’s wife enjoys “swyving” (that is, having sex) and doesn’t seem to have any guilt upon sleeping with John.
The miller’s wife Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by The miller’s wife or refer to The miller’s wife. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Reeve’s Tale
Quotes
Thus is the proude miller wel ybete,
And hath ylost the gryndynge of the whete,
And payed for the soper everideel
Of Aleyn and of John, that bette hym weel.
His wyf is swyved, and his doghter als.
Low, swich it is a millere to be fals!
And therefore this proverbe is seyd ful sooth,
“Hym thar nat wene wel that yvil dooth.”
Related Characters:
The Reeve (speaker), Symkyn, Aleyn, John, The miller’s wife, The miller’s daughter
Related Themes:
Get the entire The Canterbury Tales LitChart as a printable PDF.
The miller’s wife Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by The miller’s wife or refer to The miller’s wife. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Reeve’s Tale
Quotes
Thus is the proude miller wel ybete,
And hath ylost the gryndynge of the whete,
And payed for the soper everideel
Of Aleyn and of John, that bette hym weel.
His wyf is swyved, and his doghter als.
Low, swich it is a millere to be fals!
And therefore this proverbe is seyd ful sooth,
“Hym thar nat wene wel that yvil dooth.”
Related Characters:
The Reeve (speaker), Symkyn, Aleyn, John, The miller’s wife, The miller’s daughter
Related Themes:
