?

At the beginning of Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer warns the reader that Troilus will receive great sorrow due to Criseyde forsaking him. The reader is aware from the very beginning of Criseyde’s nature. Criseyde is described in great detail at the beginning of text; her deceptive nature is not mentioned though. She has the beauty of an ethereal being, a perfect creature. She is severely saddened by her abandoned state. Her husband is dead, and her father banned from Troy. Criseyde followed her role as widow for all of society to witness, and was loved by everyone.

               And in hir hous she abood with swich meynee

               As to hir honour nede was to holde;

               And whyl she was dwellinge in that citee,

               Kepte hir estat, and bothe of yonge and olde

               Ful wel beloved, and wel men of hir tolde.

When Troilus first sees Criseyde, he sees her at her strongest moment.  She is standing alone and beautiful.  

               Criseyde clearly tells Pandarus that she does not know how to love a man.  She is very straightforward, and does not try to disillusion Pandarus.  She says that she will try to please Troilus, but she is aware that this will end dreadfully with her reputation destroyed.  Admitting that you do not have the ability to love is never a good omen.  Even though she says she will try to please Troilus, another man easily distracts her.  Criseyde needs a man to rely upon at all times.  Her new partner Diomede, turns out to be stronger than her previous partner, Troilus.

               Diomede makes a continual effort to woe Criseyde.  At first Criseyde strongly denies him:

               `But as to speke of love, y-wis,' she seyde,

               `I hadde a lord, to whom I wedded was,

               The whos myn herte al was, til that he deyde;

               And other love, as helpe me now Pallas,

               Ther in myn herte nis, ne nevere was.

               And that ye been of noble and heigh kinrede,

               I have wel herd it tellen, out of drede.

She claims that she has never loved another man since her husband and she has continually been a woman in mourning.  We are aware that she lying to Diomede, but he falls under her deception.  This makes the reader wonder if she also gave a false impression to  Pandarus and Troilus.  She seems to have a prepared speech that she gives to her new partners.  

               Criseyde indicts herself further when she gives Diomede a brooch that Troilus had given her.  She appears to have forgotten or does not care that this was a gift from a man who loved her.  When Diomede has been wounded by Troilus, Criseyde goes quickly to Diomede’s side.  She nurses him back to health, and some even say she offers him her heart.  Troilus is aware of her deception and says, “Eek, god wot, love and I be fer a-sonder! / I am disposed bet, so mote I go, / Un-to my deeth, to pleyne and maken wo.”

               Chaucer says he will no longer chide Criseyde, because history has already made clear the disapproval of her actions.  I believe that she aware that she is forsaking Troilus, but she does not care.  The most important thing to Criseyde is herself.  She looks out for her fortune, and continually chooses the strongest male accessible to protect herself.

Works Cited

Tatlock, John S.P.. “Troilus and Criseyde.” The Modern Reader’s Chaucer. 1912. New

York: The Free Press. 7 Dec 2006 http://wwwrohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/Troilus 1.htm/>.

Killings, Douglas E.. “Troilus and Criseyde.” Online Medieval and Classical Library.

1995. 7 Dec 2006 <http://omacl.org/Troilus/>.

Cassia Herndon 12/06

 I cannot get this to format correctly for some reason.

One word littered throughout Troilus and Criseyde is ‘die’, or as Chaucer would have written it ‘deye’. Troilus is

continuously stating how he will undoubtedly die if Criseyde denies her his love. His extreme self-centeredness and

confusion of the true meaning of death are very apparent. Criseyde even begins to believe that she could easily kill Troilus

if she does not nurture his idealistic romantic notions. Panderus makes sure he is a part of their strange relationship, only

kindling their confused notions. Troilus should indeed have death on mind, since the war of Troy is occurring. He does not

once stop to consider the real loss of lives that are occurring outside of his egotistical mind.

Troilus is not the only character to throw the word die around lightly. Chaucer wants to make it extremely clear to the reader the many instances the word die can be misused by Troilus, Panderus, and Criseyde. The characters do not define death as a physical injury, but as an inner pain or sadness at its extremes. If Criseyde did not believe that Troilus would indeed die by her denial of him, would she have accepted him? Chaucer is showing a world of twisted ideals.

Their constant references to death are indeed ironic since we as readers are already aware that Troilus and Criseyde will be dead by the end of the story. It does not seem that they are predicting their own deaths though. Troilus is the type who believes he will be forever young, and can therefore throw ideas of death about more easily than an older person would. Panderus is older, but he does act his age, he therefore does not count. He surrounds himself in the love traumas of younger people, imagining that he is also young, and will remain immortal around them.

At the beginning of the first book, Troilus begins to bemoan his sad circumstances concerning love.  He states, “Allas! what is this wonder maladye?  For hete of cold, for cold of hete, I deye.”  From the very beginning Troilus does not understand love, and becomes overdramatic.  Panderus is continually threatening Criseyde that if she does not choose Troilus’s love she will be the death of him.  He states, “Doth what yow list, to make him live or deye.”  Panderus does a very good job of convincing Criseyde of her duty to save Troilus.  He predicts the future to Criseyde if she does not gratify Troilus.

               `Allas! He which that is my lord so dere,

               That trewe man, that noble gentil knight,

               That nought desireth but your freendly chere,

               I see him deye, ther he goth up-right,

   And hasteth him, with al his fulle might,   

   For to be slayn, if fortune wol assente;

               Allas! That god yow swich a beautee sente!

               Criseyde quickly joins in on the idea of dying from the pain of love.  She says, “Til I myn owene herte blood may see; For certayn, I wole deye as sone as he --.”'  Panderus and Troilus have dragged an innocent woman to their sad depths.  Before they started petitioning her for love she was content, with no thoughts of death.  She comes to believe that she is truly in love and that she must do as Panderus asks of her for the sake of her life and Troilus’s.  She makes the mistake of trusting in the men around her that she should have been able to look to for wise advice.  Instead, the men are childish, with mixed priorities.  Panderus and Troilus should be concerned with the well-being of their state, not the constant focus on their love lives.  This is what makes the story funny.

 Cassia Herndon 11/06

Cassia Herndon

Beautiful

In The Lais of Marie de France, the story of “Lanval” is laced with the word beautiful. When each character is introduced their personal character is described, if they are a person of exceptional qualities they are also endowed with beauty. There are no characters with a beautiful interior and an unattractive exterior. Inner and outer beauty is synonymous at this time.

When we first meet Lanval he is described as having “valour, generosity, beauty, and prowess” (Marie 73). Lanval is the epitome of the perfect knight, and the son of a king. He therefore deserves a beautiful and true woman that is his equal. In a time of bad fortune his outlook quickly changes when two beautiful maidens approach him. The first description of them is of their attire. Lanval states that “they were richly dressed in closely fitting tunics of dark purple and their faces were very beautiful (Marie 73-74).

They lead Lanval to a tent that is described as “so beautiful and well-appointed,” that “no king under the sun could afford it” (Marie 74). Inside he finds a maiden that surpasses the beauty of all others and is lying on a beautiful bed. She is portrayed as having “cast about her a costly mantle of white ermine covered with Alexandrian purple” and having skin which was “whiter than the hawthorn blossom” (Marie 75). Everything about her description leads us to give her the highest standing possible in our minds. When she offers her love to Lanval there is no doubt his mind that she will possess his love for the rest of eternity. Her one request is that Lanval tells no one of her existence, or they shall be separated forever. He willingly agrees to her terms.

Lanval had been relishing in his newfound life with his love, when the queen of the country he was living in decided that she must have him for her lover. She propositions herself and is quickly turned down by the loyal Lanval. She is shocked and quickly angered by his refusal, there is no mention of her possessing beauty. To spite her he tells her that he is in love and loved by a lady who is “worth more than you, my lady the Queen, in body, face and beauty, wisdom, and goodness” (Marie 77). This is a shocking statement to say to a lady who should be the most beautiful in the kingdom.

Lanval realizes that he has spoken of his secret love and has therefore lost her forever. He loses all of the joy that she has brought to his life and becomes desolate. He becomes in danger of losing his life because he has stated that there is a lady more beautiful than the queen. The only way for his life to be saved is for the beautiful lady herself to reveal herself and confirm that Lanval was telling the truth.

When Lanval had lost all hope two hand maidens appeared “dressed only in purple taffeta” (Marie 79) and of great beauty. They were followed by two more maidens “dressed in garments of Phrygian silk,” and they “were both more worthy than the queen had ever been” (Marie 79-80). Lastly, a maiden who “there was none more beautiful in the world” (Marie 80) follows. She “was dressed in a white tunic and shift laced left and right so as to reveal her sides,” “her neck whiter than snow on a branch; her eyes were bright and her face white” (Marie 80).

The King and all of those who doubted Lanval praise the beauty of the maiden and acquit him of all charges. Those who were corrupt and jealous gained nothing and shall never experience the joy that Lanval has now obtained. In the end the ideals of truth, beauty, and wisdom reign. The good knight and his beautiful love ride off to Avalon, “to a very beautiful island” (Marie 81).

The ideals of beauty are seen throughout this story repeatedly, as each new character is introduced. All of the described garments worn by the beautiful lady and her maidens are of expensive fabrics and are of purple and white. These were obviously ideals of the time, portraying wealth and beauty. Marie does not leave any question to the status of the lady and her maidens. She makes sure that they are separated in our minds as superior beings by distinguishing them with beautiful bodies and beautiful attire.

Works Cited

De France, Marie. Lais of Marie de France (New York: Penguin) 1999

Cassia Herndon 9/06