Troilus and Criseyde

The relationship between Troilus and Criseyde in Geoffrey Chaucer’s adaptation of their tragic love story notably hinges on the perception of Troilus’s “manhod.” The interpretation of Troilus as a “feminized” male character, and the consequent view that he was not manly enough to keep Criseyde as his lover, exemplifies the importance Chaucer places on gender roles in the poem. Troilus’s passive nature, as a result of his “lovesickness,” led to his failure to obey the normative masculine patterns

writing narratives that question reality, faith, and agency. The dreams in Troilus and Criseyde take various forms, altering shape under careful observation. Criseyde’s dream is seemingly a prophetic somnium, which predict future events or divulge hidden truths of the past. In addition, it can also be strongly argued that this dream is fabricated from the subconscious of Criseyde as she is already starting to love Troilus, however, is not wholly ready to acknowledge this, even to herself. These two

This passage from Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde comes from a scene towards the beginning of Book Two where Criseyde and her uncle Pandarus are discussing love, specifically relation to Troilus’s desire for her. In these lines, the overbearing Pandarus gives a woeful Criseyde advice on what to do, with Criseyde giving her reaction immediately after. With the format of the rhyme royal, Chaucer creates new relationships between individual words, both in a sonic sense as well as a visual one with the

Ambiguity and Understanding of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde         One of the aspects of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde that seemed most confusing at first was the apparent ambiguity or complete lack of motivation that the author provides for the main characters. Chaucer provides little explanation for why his major characters act the way that they do; when he does, his explanations are often ambiguous or contradictory. Pandarus is an excellent example of a character whose motives are ambiguous

one of a kind style which defines Chaucer's works. In both Troilus and Criseyde and The Book of the Duchess, the characters of Troilus and the Black Knight go through heartache and sorrow because of a love they once had but both lost. Both characters are young and naive when it comes to matters of the heart and leave their fate in the hands of Cupid

Importance of Thinking in Troilus and Criseyde and Hamlet Troilus and Hamlet have much in common. Both have represented the quintessential tragic heroes of two literary periods. Both lovers, Troilus and Hamlet lose what they love despite their earth-shaking groans. Both are surrounded by traitors and are traitorous in kind. Both are embattled and--this is no secret--both die. But somewhere on that mortal coil on which they are both strung, they confront a similar question, a question which

Narrative Frames and Interpretive Models in Troilus and Criseyde         Interpretive certainty is purposely elusive in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde". Meaning within the text is convoluted and continually renegotiated. Any attempt to design a singular coherent stable source of meaning is problematic at best. Throughout the work, narrative frames are broken and reordered and the validity of any fixed interpretive model is challenged. Virtually every broad thematic discussion developed

In ancient literature, interactions between women are rare, but when they do occur they help develop the state of a woman, both mentally and emotionally. In studying several examples from ancient texts such as Hippolytus, Troilus and Criseyde, and The City of Ladies, it is evident that positive interactions between women act as a strengthening factor for female characters. Conversely, when a woman shuns her peers and relies on herself or only the men in her life, she becomes weak and isolated. A

Images of Love in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde       The image of love created by Chaucer in Book I of "Troilus and Criseyde" is one which elicits pity rather than admiration. Yet, the poet professes to serve and celebrate the God of Love. Is the superficially motivated but all-consuming passion sparked in Troilus meant to serve as a warning to other lovers or a model? With the presence of several narrative interjections by the poet himself suggesting a method of interpretation, clearly some

The character of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde is intriguing not only because of the conflicts and tensions she is faced with, but also because of the occasional variations between the type of person she is in her thoughts and the type of person she is when she interacts with Pandarus or Troilus. In her thought she is more independent, self confident and her feelings for Troilus are made evident. Whereas her persona when she’s interacting with Pandarus or Troilus is more reserved and her actions