Voice, Narration and Form

Abstract

Who are the voices of The Canterbury Tales? A quick glance at any of the individual stories in the collection, particularly those most frequently set for study, indicates that each tale is told by a teller, the voice of a fictional narrator, one who is not Chaucer himself. It is a device which clearly has an effect upon the notion of tale telling as well as upon the issues each story raises. Within most tales there are two voices — Chaucer’s and the fictional narrator’s. Sometimes, as in the case of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, there is more than one (Chauntecleer’s, the fox’s, Pertelote’s). Equally some voices are ‘louder’ than others — the Wife’s, the Pardoner’s. Sometimes your set texts will include snippets suggesting the presence of other speakers, pilgrims involved in the story-telling contest devised and overseen by the Host, Harry Bailly, as indicated in the General Prologue. Then, of course, there is another character, the pilgrim who observes and narrates the proceedings, often referred to as Chaucer-the pilgrim, the persona who emerges at the very start of the Tales.