Listeners’ Guide to Medieval English, A Discography by Betsy Bowden

(Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 912, Garland Publishing, New York & London, 1988)

"This GP recording has to recommend it careful pronunciation, several clever features, and overall artistic consistency that encompasses a discomfiting finale in which all the pilgrims, drawn into unity by the ever-agreeable narrator, turn as a body to make open mockery of the Host behind his back. The occasional slips into ModE vowels involve minor words, except for a ModE “soong” in GP 122 and an out-and-out American “glas” in 198, plus an odd but repeated pronunciation of ME “knew(e)” to rhyme with ModE “day.”

Although the clever features might grate in a less skillful performance, here they help convey the narrator’s genial compliance in turn with each pilgrim’s personality and point of view. Before the last name in the long list of medical authorities known by the Physician, for example, in GP 434 the narrator emits a distinct “whew!” He sings the Friar’s “In principio”; he pinches his nose to imitate the Prioress’s singing and again for the Pardoner’s hair (GP 254, 123, 679).

The narrator condemns no one. Nor is he fooled by anyone—not even by the Knight who, he knows full well, is motivated less by “worthynesse” than by “sovereyn prys” (GP 50, 67). Each pilgrim thinks well of himself; and the narrator agrees soothingly with the Friar, agrees with the Reeve in tones of crotchety secretiveness, agrees with the Clerk that those who pay should be prayed for first. He most assuredly agrees that what the Wife of Bath did in youth is nobody’s business but her own. He questions her stance only in the distinctness of his switch to the Parson’s devout tones. Then gradually we come to realize that we are hearing a Parson as self-satisfied as anybody else, preaching a sermon concerning exemplary parsons who much resemble himself (GP 477 ff.). The narrator even avoids overt condemnation while imitating the Summoner’s harsh snarl and his simple-minded machismo that relishes a child-scaring appearance (e.g., GP 646, 658, 673–74).

Certainly the Host is no less self-deluded than any of the pilgrims, pompously “boold” in GP 755 and merry on the several occurrences of that term. Money is foremost in his concerns, as conveyed by “ahem” before line 760 and by other inflections. Still, it seems harsh for the narrator, representing the flock, to laugh outright at references to the “juggement” of their self-appointed “governour” (GP 818, 813).

The Host is no dupe, however, when he coolly silences the Pardoner at the close of the second selection on this tape. Some critics suggest that the Pardoner, carried away by his own eloquence in PardT 919–45, sincerely tries to sell pardons to the pilgrims. This Pardoner, instead, gets carried away by his own teasing. After chuckling at the Christ’s-pardon benediction, PardT 916–18, he starts kidding the other pilgrims and keeps on long after the joke has worn thin. The Host is glad for the chance to make everyone else comfortable by silencing the Pardoner. His heartiness tips to decisive irritation only on the last two lines, PardT 954–55, to make sure that he is understood by one so insensitive to others’ responses.

The Pardoner’s insensitivity appears elsewhere in this performance. In his Prologue, he eagerly confides his tactics, unaware that some would consider them evil or unsportsmanlike. Within his Tale, he does not distinguish the characters very sharply; the little boy in the tavern speaks with melodrama not unlike that of the old man. However, he does give distinct characters to the three riotours: one is evil, one very stupid (PardT 816–18, 822–23), and the youngest fresh-faced and eager until corrupted by the fiend at PardT 844."