The self-referential moment in the introduction to the Man of Law is particularly interesting. I think it shows, if nothing else, that Chaucer feels himself sufficiently removed from responsibility for the narration by the many layers of narrators in the Tales that he can point back at himself; at the same time, as an author, he invariably would know that his readers/listeners would invariably trace the responsibility for what he says back to him. Thus it is ironic, a wink and a nod, and surely some kind of hint for the reader about the way he perceived and intended his relationship to his writing and its narrators. He seeks to complicate this relationship when the Man of Law tells us that

“But certeinly no word ne writeth he
Of thilke wikke ensample of Canacee,
That loved hir owene brother synfully –
Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy! –“ (77-80).

He denies that Chaucer would ever tell such tales even as he does, albeit in abbreviated format, through himself. Chaucer seems to indicate here a disconnect between the values of the author and his narrator, and argue for a greater latitude of subject material, justified because it passes from the mouth of his character and narrator, not his own. Added to all this is the fact that we are hearing all these words through Chaucer’s pilgrim, who may or may not bear some resemblance to him, and who certainly filters and affects the tale we receive from him as well.