One interesting aspect of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is the aspect of point and counterpoint which pervades the stories. Because Chaucer's intention is to deeply examine the nature of the relationships (primarily erotic) which exist between men and women, his theme is articulated from what may be considered multiple points of view. For example, "The Knight's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" each approach the theme of chivalry and erotic intrigue, but the two tales exists almost as mirror-images of one-another.Traditionally, "The Knight's Tale" has been considered by critics as an affirmation of the medieval conception (or even idealization) of the chivalric code. The chivalric code prescribes a set of moral and religious sentiments which are meant to instill nobility, honesty, and honor into those who adhere to them.

Simple reflection of the notion of medieval chivalry, and Chaucer's depiction of chivalry in "The Knight's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" reveals that Chaucer saw two very different sides to the issue of chivalry.On the one hand, as depicted in "The Knights Tale," chivalry is represented as an efficacious method by which the complex and tangled erotic relationships between men and women can be controlled and subsumed within a socially cohesive context. On the other hand, "The Miller's Tale" depicts a social microcosm which has fallen into chaos and disorder due to uncontrolled and unrestrained erotic energy and erotic entanglement.By comparing the two tales, any reader or critic could presumably conclude that Chaucer meant to reinforce the notion of chivalry as an authentic set of moral prescriptions by his portrayal of it in the two tales. However, just as possibly, Chaucer meant both tales to show the essentially chaotic nature of sexual desire and attraction and therefore, "The Knight's Tale' should be read as satire, rather than dogma. To determine whether or not Chaucer meant "The Knight's Tale" to be interpreted ironically, it is useful to examine in more detail some of the ideas which were part of medieval chivalry.

In medieval times, the idea of sexuality held a key position in the methods of the chivalric code, which was supposed to be a set of moral behaviors meant to enforce and maintain societal mores and customs which were concerned, primarily, with sex and marriage. Although, at first glance, Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" would seem to express a cynical vision of male and female sexuality, a vision which seems to establish men and women in an eternal battle of the sexes, a closer reading of the tales reveals a more dynamic and complex vision of the issue of marriage and all matters related to erotic love and sensuality.Chivalry and all of the ideas associated with it are, for Chaucer, aspects of the erotic and romantic entanglements which exist between people and an attempt to control these entanglements. However, it is often difficult to determine with final accuracy whether or not Chaucer's apparent idealization of chivalric morality is intended to be satirical or prescriptive. By common consent, chivalry and courtly romance were two of a medieval knight's most closely held beliefs and means of cultural inclusion.

In "The Knight's Tale," Chaucer plays upon the reader's expectation that knights, according to the chivalric code, should be devoted to and protective of women, and in particular, the preservation of chastity both in themselves and in the Ladies they serve. Arguably,both Palamon and Arcite represent aspects of virtue and authentic devotion to the chivalric code and, as such, Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" should be read as a prescriptive meditation on the efficacy of chivalry.If this is so, there is little to explain why "The Miller's Tale" would have been included in the collection at all. The entirety of The Canterbury Tales -- apart from "The Knight's Tale" -- could be read as an inversion of the chivalric code as presented in "The Knight's Tale. " The specific way in which 'The Miller's Tale" compliments (or balances) "The Knight's Tale" is to re-affirm, through negative envisioning, the reasons why chivalry is necessary in the first place.Although the emphasis of the chivalric code is -- on the surface -- mostly concerned with male behavior, its prescriptions are rooted in feminine sexuality.

Taken together, these elements are what passes for a "relationship" in Chaucer's stories. However, the true resonance of this fact lies, not in the idea that Chaucer meant to express an affirmation of the chivalric code in "The Knight's Tale," but in what, exactly, this affirmation of chivalry means in terms of Chaucer's larger theme of male and female relationships.Obviously, the opening lines of 'The Knight's Tale" portray a world of patriarchal rule, of rule by force and by manhood, with women being led in tow and lamentation by the conquering Theseus who, in his great wisdom and compassion, takes pity on them. The theme of "The Knight's Tale' is encapsulated in one of the opening couplets of the poem: "That with his wysdom and his chivalrie/ He conquered al the regne of Femenye" (Chaucer, 865-866).When posited against the Canterbury Tales as a whole, this statement must be viewed ironically, because of the obvious resonance of other tales such as "The Miller's Tale" or "The Wyf of Bath's Prologue and Tale" both of which emerge as cautionary tales regarding the imbalance of power to one gender or the other.

This truth is borne out through a close analysis of one of the "ironic tales" particularly the following tale "The Miller's Tale" which can be thought of as the "inverse" theme to "The Knight's Tale" in that it demonstrates an erotic entanglement which is not restrained by the chivalric code.So while Chaucer often portrays "questions of female agency, accountability, and interpretability" (Parry) his typical process as in "The Miller's Tale" and "The Knight's Tale," two tales which mock the mores and conventions of classical narratives, he shows his "male figures' efforts physically and interpretively to possess and control the desirable female "object" as the dominant narrative focus" (Parry) which is what is meant by female agency in the critical works.This type of female agency causes various types of male-action in "The Canterbury Tales" from rape to cuckoldry, and the idea of female agency is a unifying theme in all of the tales. In this way, the chivalric code can be seen as an attempt of men to shield themselves from their own responses to feminine agency; the question remains as to whether or not the chivalric code, ironically, increases the power and impact of feminine agency.

If the latter is true, then the whole of The Canterbury Tales should be read as a satire of the chivalric code. Additionally,Chaucer's fondness for odd correspondences in the tales also reflects the theme of female agency. Female agency can be thought of as both feminine sexuality and the active male response to female sexuality and the chivalric code, as viewed by Chaucer in "The Knight's Tale" is the only manner in which male response to female sexuality can be controlled in order to stave off cultural and social disintegration. By contrast, in the "Miller's Tale, the idea of equality is even more pronounced: "Men sholde wedden after hire estaat/ For youthe and elde is often at debaat" (Chaucer 3229-3230).

Here the onus of disrepair is not on the unfaithful young wife, nor on the scholar, but on the Miller himself who has tried to evade his side of the marital "debt" by marrying a much younger woman. Since he is incapable of satisfying her sexually, he can't pay in sexual currency and so tries to pay with material wealth. But it is not ignorance, merely self-absorption and self-interest that create the Miller's cuckoldry and foolishness. He would not have ever been farted on by the scholar had he understood female-agency, which appears passive but is in fact a counter-point to male aggression.Later in the tale, Absalon, too, suffers the fate of "absence" and the scorn was born out of the proverb "Nigh-and-Sly Wins against/ Fair-and-Square who isn't there. ' (Chaucer 110) and this states explicitely the power of feminine agency and also of the male obligation to the marital debt.

Here we can posit that Chaucer is mocking the chivalric code because his suggestion is that erotic relationships require a very particular form of "balance' and one which is not founded on any prescribed set of moral behaviors but on mutual trust and mutual respect.To show this more clearly, Chaucer exaggerates for comedic impact: worse than the mere destruction of his self-identity and his manhood, the Miller risks the complete unbalance of his world. The problems which accompany the marital pursuit of "mutual liberty" are also aspects which impact the entire human race and all human societies. The "Miller's Tale" like the other tales in the "Canterbury Tales" presents a social microcosm: "And Nicholas is scalded in the towte/ The tale is doon, and God save al the rowte" (Chaucer, 3854-3855).

Obviously, "The Miller's Tale" shows a world of disorder where the chivalric code which is present in "The Knight's Tale" does not serve to force the scholar and the Miller into a ritualistically antagonist relationship which preserves male action and social order, simultaneously. This fact is demonstrated in "The Knight's Tale" by a positivistic vision of chivalric morality, although the same theme is demonstrated elsewhere, in other tales, through the use of irony.Part of the final analysis of "The Knight's Tale" must be associated with the fact that the tale is the first in sequence of The Canterbury Tales and, as such, stands for the ideal state which is hoped-for, but demonstrably unaccomplished as is attested to by the remainder of the tales. In fact, the message of Chaucer seems to be that men find strength in gentle humility and that women find peace by utilizing female-agency as a form of strength by which male aggression can be tamed and blunted.

or more correctly, directed toward to the payment of a the mutual erotic debt.In this way, the "element of ambiguity emerges even more clearly" (Traversi 93) when it is shown that in response to male gentleness, women will become too humble and gentle: as "is the natural and appropriate response" (Traversi 93). This is the theme which results from regarding "The Knight's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" as being mutually satiric and dismissive of the medieval idea of chivalry. The consequence of reading "the Knight's Tale" ironically, is to realize that Chaucer is, in fact, calling for a complete "overhaul" of his society's conception of the nature of erotic relationships and the basis of marriage.Not that Chaucer is suggesting that marriage is, itself, and impossible ideal, but he may be suggesting that the extant vision of morals and ethics which he viewed as controlling his society were inadequate to the task of enabling good marriages. Part of the problem, suggested by Chaucer's satire, is that chivalry is an impediment to true understanding.

Such a conclusion seems to suggest that Chaucer thought that the state of Eros between men and women was an organic and natural thing meant to be negotiated through much like the natural world itself and perhaps never fully understood.Such a vision could account for the ambiguity of the tales and the fact that despite their effort as explicated by Nelson to touch upon key ideas and behaviors that restore erotic harmony, the main impact of the "Canterbury Tales" their most convincing aspects seem to be those which show eroticism in its unbalanced state. According to Chaucer, the chivalric code as represented in "The Knight's Tale" expresses a socially functional way of defining and restraining otherwise destructive impulses which are the consequence of erotic entanglements.