Question

In "The Miller's Tale", why did Nicholas describe his vision of a flood?

1) To warn people about an impending disaster
2) To impress Alison and gain her affection
3) To convince John to build a boat
4) To entertain the other characters in the story

Answer 1

Nicholas describes his vision of a flood in "The Miller's Tale" to convince John to build a boat, thereby tricking him and allowing Nicholas to pursue an affair with John's wife.

Step-by-step explanation:

In "The Miller's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Nicholas describes his vision of a flood to convince John to build a boat. Nicholas, a clever and cunning character, fabricates a story about an impending flood of biblical proportions.

He does this for the sole purpose of tricking John, the carpenter, into preparing for a non-existent disaster that will ensure John is out of the way so that Nicholas can have an affair with John's wife, Alison. This scheme highlights Nicholas's manipulative nature and serves to advance the humorous and satirical plot of the tale.