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Troilus and Criseyde (1385)

Influences: Ovid, Boethius; Boccaccio's Il Filostrato;

The Troy story: Dares Phrygius, Dyctis Cretensis, Guido delle Collone, Benoit de St Maur

- the poem has five books and is written in rhyme royal.

- it is a tragic story of two lovers who are divided by the circumstances; the two are originally secondary characters in the Troy cycle, which Chaucer turns into main protagonists.

Story:

I. In the city of Troy Troilus sees Criseyde, a young widow, and falls in love with her. He courts her but all his attempts to gain her attention are in vain.

II. Resorting to the services of Pandarus, her uncle, Troilus eventually wins her love

III. The story of their great love and happiness.

IV. Criseyde has to leave Troy on an exchange of prisoners and is taken to the Greek camp. There she is courted by Diomede. The two lovers meet again but they part.

V. Troilus sees Diomede wearing the brooch he has given to Criseyde and, convinced of her betrayal, tries to get killed in battle. Eventually he dies. Rising above the Earth his soul contemplates the world it leaves behind

[A sequel was written by Henderson, showing Troilus giving alms to a leper who is Criseyde]

Style:

Criseyde’s character, hesitations, betrayal and remorse as well as Troilus's various moods are masterfully depicted; considered an early psychological text

Main themes of Troilus and Criseyde:

(a) The main theme is theological: can the good pagan be saved?

-The Trojans' secular values and inherent moral weakness make them subject to the whims of Fortune

- their (coarse) rituals cannot help them

- their moral weakness exposes them to destruction

- yet there is an innate knowledge of God, which is manifest at the level of the mind

- through the exercise of the intellect, Troilus moves from the apparent image [vis aestimativa] of his beloved Criseyde, which he has through his earthly appetite, to her image in the mirror of his mind [vis imaginativa], which is an image of moral virtue and truth

- as his intellect takes him from physical [cupiditas] to moral [caritas] love, Troilus can recognize in the latter the possibility to save his soul

(b) The difference between two kinds of love: caritas and cupiditas

Chaucer was influenced by St. Augustine’s distinction between :

- cupiditas (cupidity): enjoyment of one's self, or of the other for one’s own sake, using the other

- caritas (charity) or enjoyment of God for God’s own sake

- love functions as a test that distinguishes two kinds of love:

- human love (cupiditas), which places man on the wheel of Fortune and makes him subject to its ups and downs, to happiness and misery

- the love of God (charity), which places man on the hub of the wheel and takes him out temporality

(c) Philosophical: The relation between free will and divine Providence

- free will can be exercised by man at all times and is foreseen by God in his divine Providence

- the choice of cupidity places man Man on the wheel of Fortune, thus man is subject to Fortune’s ups and downs and to her unpredictable changes



- the choice of charity places man on the hub and outside temporal vicissitudes.

- the aim of the text is to indicate the permanence of bliss in the contemplation and love of the divine

2. The Canterbury Tales (begun 1387-1392)

Mss. Ellesmere; Landsdown; Hengwrt

Influences:

Similar Italian works: Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron; Giovanni Sercambi's Novelle

Classical influences: Ovid, Virgil, Macrobius, Statius,

Philosophy: Boethius

Mediaeval philosophy and theology: Allanus ab Insulis , Bernard Silvestris

Chaucer: modern auctor: not a scriptor (scribe), a compilator (compiler) or a commentator (commentator)

Structure:

- general prologue and ten groups of stories

- framed story constructed on the idea of pilgrimage used as a literary device

- is a satire or description of social states

- also a possible allegory of life taken as a pilgrimage, marked by various sins and ending with the sermon

Types of characters:

Characters cover all the social classes and categories:

The military aristocracy: the knight, the squire,

The clergy: the monk, the prioress, the second nun, the friar (limitour), the nun's priest, the pardoner, country parson

Liberal professions: the man of law, the Oxford student (clerk), the physician

The intermediary class: the wife of Bath, the summoner, the the miller, the merchant, the carpenter, the cook, the reeve, the franklin, the manciple, the haberdasher, the dyer, the canon's yeoman, the innkeeper,

Lower social categories: the ploughman

Chaucer as the narrator

Types of Tales (which characterize directly or indirectly):

1. Romances: tale of adventures and love:

The tale of Palamon and Arcite

2. Fabliau(x): licentious story/ies of coarse humour:

The miller's tale of the old carpenter who is cheated by his young wife

3. Fables: moral allegories:

The story of Chauntecleer and Pertelote

4. Exempla: life of exemplary personalities, but also allegories:

The tale of Griselda, the tale of Constance, the tale of illustrious men

5. Legend: (hagiography) lives of the saints

The legend of little St. Hugh

6. Sermon: about the seven deadly sins

the parson’s sermon

Chaucer's retraction: in which he apologizes if he has ever offended God in his writings

RENAISSANCE LITERATURE IN ENGLAND [1]


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 803


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