When to Speak

What I found intriguing in the Manciple's tale is the conundrum that questions when exactly it is good idea to speak and when it is a good idea to keep your mouth shut. For example, if the crow hadn't blabbed about Phoebus's wife's indiscretion, Phoebus's wife would not have been murdered, the God of Poetry wouldn't be brought down to a human level and maybe we'd have a couple different colored crows in the world.

However, the irony lies in the fact that the moral "know when to keep quiet" is presented after reading twenty-some tales from people who felt like sharing stories. There is a sense of caution to be derived from the tale that story telling can only take you so far. At the end of the day words can have consequences, and sometimes they're consequences that are beyond your control.

Chaucer seems to preach against what many of his pilgrims are doing, and warns the reader about when storytelling is appropriate. Yet, for some reason, Chaucer feels that his Canterbury Tales are appropriate to tell. Chaucer definitely describes some taboo subjects for the time, but feels that he should tell his stories.

I can't think of Chaucer's justification for when it is not appropriate to tell except in the situation where it will damage someone's reputation and/or put his or her life at risk. Still, that seems too simple.