Alison is the beautiful, flirtatious young wife of the carpenter. When Nicholas woos her, she thinks nothing of her marital obligations and has no guilt at having an affair with the dashing young scholar. She is also somewhat temperamental: even though she sings sweetly to Nicholas, she harshly rebuffs Absolon’s advances.
Alison Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by Alison or refer to Alison. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Miller’s Tale
Quotes
Thus swyved was this carpenteris wyf,
For al his kepyng and his jalousye,
And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye,
And Nicholas is scalded in the towte.
This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte!
Related Characters:
The Miller (speaker), The carpenter, Nicholas, Alison, Absolon
Related Themes:
Get the entire The Canterbury Tales LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alison Character Timeline in The Canterbury Tales
The timeline below shows where the character Alison appears in The Canterbury Tales. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Miller’s Tale
...astrology and can also sing well. The carpenter is very jealous of his eighteen-year-old wife, Alison, who is pretty and flirtatious: the Miller describes her as a frisky young flower.
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One day, Nicholas begins to flirt with Alison. Nicholas grabs her, and though she cries out at first in protest, he coaxes her...
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On the next holiday, Alison goes to the parish church, where another young clerk, Absolon, spies her. Absolon is vain...
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Absolon serenades Alison underneath her window, brings her gifts, and showers her with money, but to no avail––Alison...
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One Saturday, the carpenter travels to nearby Osney, and Alison and Nicholas form a plan to spend the night together. Nicholas tells Alison to have...
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...he knows a remedy, and that if the carpenter follows his orders, they will all––including Alison––survive the flood.
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...they will not speak a word to each other the entire time. The carpenter and Alison, Nicholas says, must not hang next to each other so that they will not be...
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On Monday night, the carpenter, Nicholas, and Alison climb into their tubs and say their prayers. The carpenter falls asleep, and Nicholas and...
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...him there, decides that he will go there at dawn and confess his love to Alison.
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...and licorice to sweeten his breath, and at the first cock’s crow, he knocks on Alison’s window and begs for a kiss. She rebuffs him, saying that she loves another. Absolon...
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...the blacksmith and borrows a hot iron. He returns to the window, knocks, and tells Alison that he has brought her a gold ring and that he will give it to...
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...gotten out of bed to urinate, sticks his rear end out the window. Absolon tells Alison to speak so that she can let him know where she is, and Nicholas lets...
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...a swoon, his arm broken. The neighbors rush in to see the spectacle. Nicholas and Alison tell everyone that the carpenter is crazy, and no one will listen to the carpenter’s...
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