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Troilus and Criseyde

 

Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is a very widely applauded work of poetry all over the world. His works, which include the extensive Canterbury Tales, have a history of being appealing to a variety of people, from the members of the Court to the lesser population. This, some would say, would probably be because Chaucer chooses to direct his writings at all types of characters through the medium of language topical issues and style, but Troilus and Criseyde is a work vastly culminating towards a fairly restricted audience. As it is, it talks of the Trojan war, which only a select crowd or elite would know about, and also, we cannot forget that Chaucer was a favourite at Court ; Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is based to a large extent on Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, but he made quite a lot of changes to the way the protagonists are portrayed. Chaucer's art rests in the way he describes rounded characters and not really types as some might have thought. The two main characters have been dealt with in such an astute and crafty manner that the reader asks himself whether Troilus as the hero is the main character or is Criseyde the more appealing of the two.

 

Indeed, Troilus is the mythical, legendary hero in all senses of the word. Troilus's appearance itself demarcates him from the whole crowd of `knyghts' who follow him and for whom he is responsible. Troilus at the very outset is the epitome of heroic splendour and magnificence, a state which will amplify as the story goes on. He is this `fierse and proud knyght' (Bk1, 225)

 

But wel he wist, as far as tongues spaken,

Ther nas a man of gretter hardinesse

Thanne he, ne more desired worthinesse

(Bk1, 565-67)

 

As per the definition of `hero', Troilus is by every means what one would call the knight in shining armour, as seen by his valour and courage. The description of him riding by, in the temple, his pride itself sets him out as being the eternal handsome `knyght' worthy of praise, admiration and love, but Troilus in his `hardinesse' is cast somewhat in a negative light because he angers the god of love with his lack of respect and devotion- `He would smyle and holden it folye'(Bk1, 194)- to God's gift to one and all:

 

In hevene and helle, in erthe and salte see

Is felt thi myght, if that I well descerne,

As man, brid, best, fissh, herbe, and grene tree,

Thee fele in tymes with vapour eterne.

God loveth, and to love wol nought werne,

And in this world no lyves creature

Withouten love is worth, or may endure

(BkIII, 8-14)

 

Ironically, he shows disdain towards lovers, while he will become one not long after. Here the idea of Fate/Fortune is brought forward with the image of the wheel of Fortune so ever-present in tragedies:

 

This Troilus is clomben on the staire,

And litel weneth that he moot descenden

But alday faileth thing that fooles wended

(Bk1, 215-17)

 

Tempting Fate and the gods with his disdain sets Troilus out for his downfall. His reaction to falling in love is so extreme; it is an actual conversion from a scorning person to a devotee of love and of Criseyde:

 

For myne estat roial here resigne

Into hire hond, and with ful humble chere

Bicome hir man, as to my lady dere

(Bk1, 432-34)

 

This shows the power of `Cupide', for Troilus has been so arrogant and now he is no more than a pathetic fellow whose heart has been pierced by the never-failing-to-reach-the-target arrows of that powerful god. Thus we are acquainted with a realm called Courtly Love, which has its own rules and principles. Troilus becomes the usual knight who craves for the favours of his `lady dere'. Troilus's frame of mind changes from the fearsome warrior to that of the lovelorn, lusty knight. Troilus's heroic attributes are somewhat tainted by his pathetic demeanour. His weeping, moaning, digressions, endless thinking, singing and sighing is what one would call a parody of the hero type as the classical writers would define him. It can be said that Chaucer is in reality criticising the concept of Courtly love with its vain intentions. Here we could say that Troilus becomes what Pandarus later calls ` Seynt Idiot, lord of this fooles alle'(Bk1, 910). The image of him pretending to be `abedde' sick and sighing is simply ludicrous. In the Medieval times, love is nothing more than an illness, and Chaucer depicts his hero as an ailing warrior, which is antithetic in purport. The beginning of his endless love for Criseyde is signalled by a tongue in the cheek-like `Therwith his herte gan to spede and rise,/ And softe sighed' (Bk1, 77-79), and his subsequent tears are a form of purgatory through which he has to undergo to appease and propitiate the Gods for the sin he has committed against them, scorning love, that is. Troilus retires to his room soon enough, but not out of cowardice: it betrays his incapacity to fight the love in question. By nature, Troilus is a fatalist, a passive character, born to suffer, eternally despairing because he interprets everything as being caused by Fate or destiny. Although he suffers from being in love, Troilus is considerably improved by it. He becomes a nicer human being, a better fighter:

 

And worthi folk maad worthier of name,

And causeth moost to dreden vice and shame

(Bk1, 251-2)

 

but he remains the Courtly love bound knight who cannot say anything in front of his beloved. Troilus,try as he may, is not able to sustain a conversation with Criseyde the day he meets her, and Pandarus has to prod and prompt him since he is so inarticulate, more so he actually faints when he hears that Pandarus has been using deceit to get her to him. This is certainly because he really does have strong feelings for Criseyde and is guilty about the ways in which Pandarus is manipulative. We must note, however, that he does not try to redress the situation, for it is quite to his advantage. Moreover, what makes Troilus appealing as a character is his love for Criseyde; `his longe love, his trouthe and his penaunce'(BkV, 1670).His love is so pure in a way `sith' he loves her in spite of her betrayal of his affections .We admire the way he does not follow Pandarus's example of objectifying women but gives his heart completely:

 

Thou biddest me I shulde love another

Al freshly newe, and lat Criseyde go!

It lith nat in my power, leeve brother;

And though I might, I wolde nat do so

(BkIV, 456-9)

 

Troilus is extremely passionate in his love for Criseyde, but although he says he will kill himself, he dies a honourable death on the battlefield. He is not the vengeful hero and Diomede does not die at his hands and he dies killed by Achilles in a very classical manner. His going to the highest sphere is proof enough that he is of the heroic mettle, because warriors are immediately shrived of their sins, having undergone the highest possible death, according to classical mythology.

 

However, while Troilus is set at a distance from us mortals when he the eighth sphere and gains supreme bliss, Criseyde is much more tangible as a character, which is why we can effectively judge her. Responses to Criseyde have always been mitigated in a way. Her depiction by Chaucer is of a beautiful nature: she is fair overshadowing the other ladies at court, possesses `honour, estat and wommanly noblesse'(Bk1, 287) despite her `cloudy' dress. She inspires respect and love in one and all:

 

[...] and both of yonge and olde

Ful wel biloved, and wel men of her tolde

(Bk1, 130-1)

 

As a demure woman fearful of her reputation because of her father's treachery, and of her need to have protection from a man, in this case Hector, we see her as a very ordinary and yet attractive person. A widow from the outset, she is fairly dependent on the society's opinion and consequently, it takes a lot of courage to kneel down and beg for the King's protection, especially when she is the traitor's daughter par excellence. The reader admires her for what she does as a survival tactic, but this is only and incipient portrayal of Chaucer's: as the story unravels, her character becomes more coloured.

 

Effectively, the feedback for Calkas's daughter has not always been positive, and in many instances, it is quite justifiable. In a great many ways, Criseyde's personality takes on certain overtones that are not easily grasped and tend to put her in a negative light. Indeed, her pragmatic sense and her harsh manner in her relationship with Troilus have been described as being callous. Seeing how she has professed and sworn her love and loyalty to Troilus people would ask themselves why she would easily give in to Diomede. Thus Criseyde is portrayed as the fickle, volatile, cunning and lustful mistress who brings about Troilus's downfall. While Troilus is as constant in his work as in his duty, Criseyde becomes the villain in a way. Giving Troilus's `broche' to Diomede is tantamount to treason and the very fact that she does not think about his broken heart but of her own reputation afterwards shows her in a negative light:

 

"For I have herd wel moore than I wende,

Touchyng us two, how thynges han ystonde,"

(BkV,1611-2)

 

A microcosmic parallel is set up between Helen and Criseyde: Criseyde is responsible for the fall of Troilus while Helen leads to the fall of Troy. There is the suggestion that beauty equates to downfall. Criseyde is experienced in love compared to Troilus who is still immature in all matters concerning love. She takes up the figure of the temptress . A 15th century Scottish poem Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid continues her story with Diomede tiring of her and her going back to Calkas, denouncing Venus and Cupid, who punish her with leprosy. `By the time of Shakespeare, Criseyde had become a mere wanton, and Shakespeare in his play [Troilus and Cressida] left her such(Gordon, xviii).But we should not forget that Criseyde is not a stock feminine figure of literature like in Homer -that is only the agent through which destiny asserts its power -she is a fully rounded character, and there is more to her than meets the eye.

 

More to the point, Criseyde is more appealing to us than Troilus for the same reasons that she is blamed: she errs. From the very beginning, we see her deepest concerns for her reputation, so that she is `Wel neigh out of her wit for sorwe and fere'(Bk1,108). When Pandarus tells her about the imminent attack on her reputation, she is very distressed, although it is through no fault of hers. She is the Chaucer anti-type in the sense that she does not live in the background, but takes an active part in the development of the story.She is very philosophical about human happiness and it is her ambivalence, in this respect, that conveys the idea that Criseyde is not that wicked and shrewd. If at first she seems to have the upper hand over Pandarus, we see that at the end of the day Pandarus leads the conversation towards his own purposes. Criseyde herself gives a very practical reason why she accepts Troilus:

 

If I wolde outreliche his sighte flee,

Peraunter he myghte have me in dispit,

Thorugh whicch I myghte stonde in worse plit.

Now were I wis, me hate to purchace,

Withouten need, ther I may stonde in grace?

(BkII, 710-14)

 

the decisions she takes help the plot progress towards its intended dénouement. Her promise to Troilus that she will come back is not a false one, for at that point she reaaly believes in her own powers:

 

Now that I shal wel bryngen it aboute

To come ayeyn, soon after I go,

Therof am I no manere thyng in doute

For dredeles, withinne a wowke or two

I shal ben here;

(BkIV, 1275-9)

 

and this is why troilus believes her words. Her swearing on mutable objects like the moon or the river, however, is a sign that Fortune will not let it be so. In this way, once Criseyde is at the Greek camp, she loses all self-awareness and self-confidence, simply because she is back in a patriarchal society, where she is quite independent save for her ties with her father.. Criseyde being tremendously insecure, Diomede provides the easiest way to stability for her. What would be a moot point would be why she says that she has loved only Pallas and her husband and no mention is made of her three year affair with Troilus, but this would probably be because she needs Diomede too much to put him in a point of contention about the kind of relationship she has had with Troilus, as well as to avoid tainting her reputation.

 

In this way, we see that Troilus and Criseyde are in themselves two very interesting characters, depending on the point of view from which we gauge them. Troilus might be the actual hero, but he is too much distanced from us. He is admirable, pitiable in the end, but Criseyde is the one who captures and sustains our interest, because she is a mortal in the end, human like us. She is the one we understand or deplore, who makes us go back to the poem to see where she goes wrong and where she is right. Although the story ends on Troilus ascension to the eighth sphere and his subsequent enlightenment on the smallness and brutality of this world, Criseyde is the one whom we remember long after because of the many shades she has to her character.' Indeed in this poem, Chaucer has not only given us a full and finished romance, but has endowed it with what, as rule, Medieval Romance conspicuously lacked-interest of character[...]' (The Cambridge History of English and American literature in 18 volumes (vol2 The end of the Middle ages))