"Troilus and Criseyde"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the way gender is used in "Troilus and Criseyde" by Geoffrey Chaucer, with reference to the way John Lydgate raises Chaucer in "Troy Book". It notes how Cressida is depicted as manipulative and self-serving, while Troilus is the victim who really loves her and who is betrayed by her when she shifts her love to the Greek Diomede and leaves Troilus to be killed.

From the Paper:

"The story of Troilus and Cressida has been told from various points of view in Homer, Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others. Chaucer's version of Troilus and Criseyde presents the story of the siege of Troy and events surrounding it through characters who very much reflect the ideas and attitudes of his own time, with the main characters being two young people who embody the traits of the Middle Ages. These traits include ideas about gender, based on the gender stereotypes of the day, which serve as defining characteristics for the characters and which explain many of their motivations for these characters. In the Troy Book of John Lydgate, the poet offers a Chaucerian work that gives more power to ideals than to real people and that treats gender as one aspect of tradition. Karl Federn describes the views of women that prevailed in the Middle Ages and discusses their sources."

More papers on "Troilus and Criseyde":

• Book Review # 99646 : "Troilus and Criseyde"
• Essay # 43525 : "Troilus and Criseyde"
• Analytical Essay # 25404 : "Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde"
• Analytical Essay # 142421 : "King Lear", "Paradise Lost", and "Troilus and Criseyde"

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