“This carpenter wende he were in despeir”: Misinterpretation and the Nightmare in Chaucer's Miller's Tale
The Journal of English and Germanic Philology October 1, 2023 DOI: 10.5406/1945662x.122.4.03 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key points | Argues that John the Carpenter's night-spell to ward off elves and evil spirits in The Miller's Tale is a sardonic comic element that portrays him as credulous and unlearned, in contrast to the scholarly sophistication Nicholas ostensibly represents. |
Abstract
John the Carpenter's reaction to the fake stupefaction of “hende” Nicholas in The Miller's Tale provides some of the poem's more sardonic comic elements. Not only is John characterized as foolish for believing his lodger's warnings about the upcoming deluge, but his response to seeing Nicholas sat silent and agape in his bedroom—casting as he does a “nyght-spel” to ward off elves, wights, and evil spirits (I. 3479–80)—presents a picture of John as a credulous and unlearned man, completely at odds to the type of scholarly sophistication that Nicholas (ostensibly) represents.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |