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).
Several literary techniques help to heighten the drama in this ballad. "Get Up and Bar the Door" follows the traditional four-line stanza and ABCB rhyme scheme found in ballads. It also makes use of repetition of variations of the phrase "Get Up and Bar the Door." This seems to suggest the urgency of shutting the door, and the danger the inhabitants of the house subject themselves to by letting the darkness of the night into their house. Characterization is sparse, but if any adjectives describe the man and wife, it is "stubborn." Their unwillingness to speak as the demons enter their home and eat their food as well as the wife's words "An it should nae be barrd this hundred year,/ it's no be barrd for me" shows this stubbornness (BD, LN 11-12). Though humorous, the ballad has a serious theme: One's stubbornness can inadvertently cause harm to himself or others. These techniques add to the story.
"Get Up and Bar the Door" is a good example of a Medieval English ballad and the techniques that make it so. Both the written and implied words play a large part in telling the story. Rhyme and repetition and theme add to this. Since the ballad is humorous, it and its message are all the more memorable. "Get Up and Bar the Door," with its timeless message and various techniques, is indeed worthy of the ttitle of folk ballad.