Get up and bar the door Summary?

Answer 1

The song begins with the wife busy in her cooking and other chores. As the wind picks up, the husband tells her to close and bar the door. They make a pact that the next person who speaks must bar the door, and the door remains open. At midnight two thieves enter the house and eat the puddings that the wife has just made. The husband and wife watch them, but still neither speaks out of stubborn pride. Amazed, one of the thieves proposes to molest the wife. Finally, the husband shouts "Ye've eaten my bread, ye hae druken my ale, and ye'll mak my auld wife a whore!"The wife, having won the pact, tells the husband to bar the door.

Answer 2

"Get Up and Bar the Door" is a traditional Scottish Ballad that humorously tells the story of a couple who refuse to do household chores, leading to a battle of wills over who will bar the door for the night. The humorous tone and repetition of the refrain "get up and bar the door" create a playful and entertaining narrative.

Answer 3

"The basic conflict in this ballad is one if not widely used, easily recognized: man vs. woman, or more specifically, husband vs. wife, a battle of the wills. The setting of this story is mid-November, in the home of a man and his wife, most likely of the lower two-thrids of society, since the wife must do her own housework. The wind is blowing and coming in through the door, and the man, in the typical male fashion, tells his wife to shut the door. She replies, likewise in typical fashion, that she is busy, and that if anyone will shut the door, it will not be she. Having reached a stalemate, they come to an agreement: "That the first word whaeer should speak,/ Should rise and bar the door" (BD, LN 15-16).

Here the plot thickens. With the door left open and thus the safety of the house compromised, two strangers stroll into the house. The strangers are of course demons, for what other visitors might arrive in the dark of the midnight hour? These demons proceed to eat all of the pudding the wife has made, and though she wishes to complain in anger, she says nothing. Then the demons turn mean. Seeking to frighten and harm the man and wife, one demon tells the other to shave the man's beard (or more to the point, to slice his throat). He, then, will kiss the wife, adding insult to injury. The demons also decide to scald the man with pudding broth. This is sufficient to provoke an angry response from the man. Upon hearing him speak, the wife gets up and takes "three skips on the floor," seemingly oblivious to the demons now threatening her husband's life and her dignity. Her attitude is apparent in her words as well: "Goodman, you've spoken the foremost word,/ Get up and bar the door" (BD, LN 42-44)."