The Portrayal of Courtly Love in Chaucer's the Miller's Tale

Literature, regardless of its genre revolved around a popular theme during the medieval times. Writers tended to make courtly love an important aspect of the plots of their works. Good examples are Chaucer's The Miller's Tale and its counterpart De France's Guigemar. He uses the importance of class hierarchy as a main element of courtly love whereas she uses love as a driving force on the journey to it. Contrary to writers of his time …

…communicates with the characters whereas the king has minimal interaction with the others. The second common character is the beautiful imprisoned wife. The third and essential common character is the rescuing lover. In Chaucer he is divided into two parts. Nicholas is the actual lover, but Absalom is the stereotype of the courtly lover. Aside from the fact that he actually becomes her lover Nicholas shares very little with the knights of Marie de France.