The Host

Harry Bailey, the owner of the Tabard Hotel, is a cheerful, lively innkeeper. He establishes the narrative of the main role of the narrative since it is he who offers the narrative game and sets the rules that he will follow. The host joins the pilgrimage not as a figure seeking religious leadership, but as a leader and judge for the game. The presence of the host shows that the main purpose of this pilgrimage is not so much a pious religious act as the pleasure that these tourists will have along the way.

Harry Bailey hosts the Tabard Inn, which is an incentive for the Canterbury Tales and also helps to soften and find the characters during their journey.

At the beginning of the "Canterbury Tales," we meet 29 pilgrims, who all meet at the Tabard Inn on the way to the shrine of the martyr St. Thomas Beckett. At that moment they meet host Harry Bailey. He offers good food and liquor for the whole society, and they enjoy each other for the evening when they talk and laugh.

During this brief interlude, the host suggests that he go with the group on his pilgrimage and that they have a small bet. The bet is that each person says four fairy tales, two on the way to the shrine and two on the way back. Then, as soon as they return to their hotel, the group will pay for dinner to the person who has told the best stories. There is an agreement between them, so they set off.

The host’s name is Harry Bailey; he is the owner of the Tabard Hotel, where the pilgrimage to Canterbury begins. He creates a “game” that every pilgrim tells stories, and he becomes a judge of which is the best story (although we never hear his judgment). He has a habit of engaging with higher status characters and describing his wife in very negative terms.