The Miller's Tale is a comedic tale of an old man, named John, and his young wife, Alison. Alison is the most beautiful woman in the town, and has two men wanting to be with her. One, Absalon, is a stuck up fool, who Alison hates. The other, Nicholas, is a scholar who rents out one of John's rooms, who(Nicholas) Alison is in love with. Each character has their flaws and something evil about them, and each, except Alison, gets a sort of poetic justice done to them in the end. .
Every character in the Miller's Tale has their own faults and ways of being evil. John, the old man, is a greedy man. He rents out a room to get more money. He marries a young, very attractive woman. She is eighteen years old, and he is sixty. He is very jealous of her, and is always afraid that she will cheat on him. The woman, who is the most attractive in town, marries John only for his money. Her name, in a way to mock the wife of bath, is Alison, which is also the wife of bath's name. Alison falls in love with Nicholas, and swears an oath to commit adultery with Nicholas. Nicholas flirts with Alison, even though he knows she is married. He does not need to stay in the room he is renting out from John because he is done with school, but he does so anyway to be near Alison. He devises a plan to deceive John so that he and Alison could be alone together. Absalon also flirts with Alison, and tries to win her over with presents, offers her money, and tries to show off his acting skills. He is a stuck-up person, thinks he is higher than everyone. .
John is suspicious about Nicholas and Alison, so he sends servants to spy on them. John thinks there is something supernatural about Nicholas. He thinks that studying so much is bad. He is so jealous he takes the hinges off his door so he can keep an eye on Nicholas. He mutters "spells" to try to break a curse on Nicholas, Nicholas hears this and realizes how gullible John is and devises a plan so that he and Alison can be together with John gone.