A comparison of the Miller's Tale and the Knight's TaleIt is common when considering the Canterbury Tales to discuss how some tales seem designed to emphasize themes of others. Two of these tales are the Miller's Tale2 and the Knight's Tale3. At first glance these two stories seem like an incongruous pairing. The Knight's Tale is told by an eminent person, it is a historical novel that barely escapes a tragic ending, and its themes are universal: the relationship of individuals to providence, luck and free will. The Miller's Tale is told by a drunken "cherl" (MT 3182), is a farcical fabliau and has "a plot, not fears"4. Yet, in my opinion, there is much to be gained by reading The Miller's Tale with the themes and characters of The Knight's Tale in mind. The juxtaposition of the Miller's Tale with "The Knight's Tale" makes its very lack of meaning significant."5 These two tales have apparently opposite doctrines, and yet, it seems to me, both have the same object: to encourage us to survive misfortunes and the uncertainties of life as best we can. The Knight's Tale tells us to "make vertu of necessity" (KT 3042) while the Miller's Tale expects "every man" to "laugh at this stryf" (MT 3849). The Miller's Tale is designed to "fairly" (MT 3127) the knight's tale. It certainly equals it in compositional quality, but 'pays off' the other tale mainly through the use of comedy. Humor sheds new light on the characters and on the actions of the previous tale. The carpenter's madness in Miller's Tale is by no means the only comic device used by Chaucer to create humor, but it is central in many ways. "He is, in theory, the 'authority figure' of the tale , and therefore opens with him; ... middle of the sheet ...... and Chaucer: Third edition (Oxford: OUP, 1987), The Miller's Tale. All references to the Miller's Tale will be given in the text, preceded by the initials "MT".3 line references to the Knight's Tale will be given in the text, preceded by the initials "KT".4 Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Oxford: OUP, 1989), p Cooper, p. 99.7., "The Miller's Tale as a Complaint", Chaucer Review, 5 (1970), p. 147-160. " In Piero Boitani and Jill Mann (eds.), The Cambridge Chaucer Companion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 125-142. This from, p. 131.9. Cooper, 99.10. Pearsall, p.. 129.