Conclusion
The interplay between oral transmission and chirographic and print copies of
Guy of Warwick show the overlap between the different technologies
of the word and their related thought processes in a society near the
beginning of print. In the 1500s the flow back and forth between print
and oral forms of the story display the influences of each culture on
the other. This argument agrees with Spufford and the example of
St. George, another chivalric romance that exhibits the play
between print and speech. The story of St. George was printed in a
chapbook, which was used to stage the Mummers' Play, and was then
recorded again in print. Print shaped part of oral culture, and vice
versa.
By the start of the Eighteenth Century, and the last chapbook
edition, it seems that print took a firm enough hold to begin the end of
oral culture in England. The standardization that comes with print was
in effect and allowed print and language from that period to be
understandable to English speakers today. The prose form of the story is
closer to the style of today's novels. However, the 1700s chapbook still
contains a story with a high oral residue. Perhaps oral culture did
still have an effect on society, but it was naturally growing smaller
with time, as the population moved towards being fully literate.