Troilus .And Criseyde"

LOVE IN "TROILUS .AND CRISEYDE"

------.__ ~._~· •• A ••• _. ABSTRACT

AUTHOR: Hutton G. Archer

TITLE: Chaucerfs Conception of Love in Troilus and Criseyde as Compared with Dantefs in The Divine Comedy.

DEPARTMENT: English Department - McGill University

DEGREE: M'aster of Arts

SUMMARY

The primary link between Chaucer f s Troilus and Criseyde and Dante f s

Divine Comedy is their theme of love. Chaucer puts to great use his histor-

ical proximity to Dante by paraphrasing more than a hundred lines of the

Comedy. In the process, .he supports Dantefs Christian philosophy whereby

there is one universal love. All creatures participate in that love which

is implanted in them by God at the moment of creation. The human soul re-

ceives most of the divine nature, and by virtue of it bas the faculty of

reason and the ability for the intellectual expansion and enlightenment

which is part of the process of returning to God.

Some critics have doubted tbat Chaucer is expressing this Christian

philosophy in Troilus and Criseyde which bas elements of the courtly and

pagan traditions. St. Augustinefs model of Omnis amer aut ascendit, aut

dèscendit resolves this problem. Love differs only in its direction. ~

Divine Comedy expresses love as it ascends to God, for Dante through his

love of Beatrice achieves Godfs grace. Troilus seeks ultimate satisfaction

in the physical consummation· of his love for Criseyde, thus expressing love

as it descends to lust. His pilgrimage takes him only to the lowest sphere

of Heaven. In these terms, both poems vindicate the process of Godfs love •

._.0

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CHAUCER'S CONCEPTION OF LOVE IN

"'lROILUS AND CRISEYDE" AS COMPARED

WI TH DANTE' S IN Il THE DIVINE COMEDY"

By HUTTON G. ARCHER

'nlesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, McGill University, in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts

Department of English March 31, 1971

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1 Hutton G. .Archer 1.971

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-.. · .O . C O-N T E N T S

Page INTRODUCTION· iii

1. LOVE IN THE DIVINE COMEDY 1

1. BefoEe The Divine Comedy 1 2. Comedy 6 3. Inferno 8 4. Purgatorio 11 5. Paradiso 15 6. Love in Dante 19

II. LOVE IN TROILUS .AND CRISEYDE 21

1. ,Chaucer and Dante 21 2. The . Tragedy of Troilus 26 3. Predestination and Free Will 30 4. Troi1us' Pilgrimâg-e 35 5. The Guides 42 6. itove in Channer 49

III. CONCLUSION 56

IV FOOTNOTES 58

V A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY, 62

li o

IN'IRODUCTION

In this thesis, Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is analysed

in terms of the similarities which it bears to Dante's Divine Comedy.

The primary link between these two works is that they are medieval love

poems. Both poets regard the subject of love as most fitting for their

study and since they are both heir to the same body of literary, phil-

osophical and rhetorical conventions, there is inevitably a great deal

in common in their work. Love and the understanding of it is the major

force in the two stories.

The Beatrice story reveals Dante's love for her, his growth in

spiritual insight when he lost her in the flesh and found her in the

·spirit, and his ultimate discovery of God as Love through her. Chaucer's

Troilus, on the other hand, reveals a lack of insight which brings him

despair in his loss of Criseyde, and takes him to the eighth sphere, the

closest point from·which he can look back on earth and recognize his

folly. These are the two directions in which love can go.

In medieval Christian terms, there is only one love and it differs

only in its direction. St. Augustine states in his discussion of Psalm

~ CXXII; 1'Omnis amor aut ascendit, aut descendit." In Philip Schaff's

translation of· St. Augustine's work, this is elaborated:

As impure love inflames the mind, and sumnons the soul destined. to perish to lust for earthly things, and to followwhat is perishable, and precip itates it into lowest places, and sinks it into the abyss; so holy love raiseth us to heavenly things, and inflames us to what is eternal, and excites the soul to those things whiCh do not pass away nor die, and from the abyss of hell raiseth it to heaven.2

cr iii ---- .... _._-_ ...-......

o Troilus' error is that he makes the phys"ical consummation of his love for

Criseyde his ultimate goal. This is an example of love as it descends.

Dante looks beyond the physical Beatrice, and attains Paradise. This is

love as it ascends. In terms of the Augustinian image of ascent and

descent, it becomes evident that both Dante and Chaucer were expressing

the same philosophy of love.

St'. Augustine elsewhere refers to these two directions of love as

charity and cupidity. They are both the motion of the soul toward the

enjoyment of one's self, one's neighbor or any corporeal thing. Charity

is enjoyment for the sake of God, while cupidity is enjoyment for the

sake of something other than God. 3 As we learn from Dante's progress in

The Divine Comedy, one can move from a cupidinous attachment to a char-

itable one. St. Paul points out in Romans l, 20 that God is to be under-

stood "by the things that are made". This is developed by St. Augustine

when he says that the beauty of creation should lead men towards love for

the creator,4 and that charity should begin with the love of one's 5 neighbor. Troilus', downfall comes about not because he loves the earthly

Criseyde, but because he seeks ultimate satisfaction in her physical being.

The discussion of Dante's Divine Comedy and other works in this

thesis makes use of certain assumptions which are current among Dante

scholars. lt is not intended to add to the volume of scholarship on Dante,

but simply to provide a frame of reference for the discussion of Troilus

and Criseyde. This is justifiable in the light of the evidence to be

presented that Chaucer familiarized himself with Dante's work and is o indebted to it tb a large degree. iv

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LOVE IN THE DIVINE COMEDY

1. Before "'!he Divine Comedy"

When Dante was nine years old, he met Beatrice at the house of her

father on the occasion of the celebration of the spring festival. He was

so struck by her beauty, charm and dignity that he thought her an angel,

and she infused in him the intense love which was later to become a

symbolic and spiritual one. In the Vita Nuova he tells of the moment

when love became master of his soul, and of the devotion with which he

follawed Beat~ice as a boy. His second meeting with her occurred nine

years later, when she saluted him in the street and brought h~ inexpress-

able delight. '!hey never spoke to each other, and it is obvious that ftom

the beginning, the objective Beatrice whom he loved so much was leading

him to an understanding of the spiritual power that was being expressed 6 to h~ through her. Only in this work does Dante's conception of love

come close to that which leads to sexual gratification.

The transition from an inexperienced young man who faces love for

the first time to an older man who can see it objectively is evident in

the poems of the Vita Nuova. In the first sonnet:

When Love was shawn· me with such terrors fraught As may not carelessly be spoken of. He seem'd likeone who is full of joy, and had My heart within his hand, and on his arm My lady, with a mantle round her, slept; Whom (having waken' d her) anon he made To eat that heart; she ate, as fearing harm. lhen he went out; and as he went, he wept.7 o l -----_ .. __ .. _-_. ---. _.

2 o

There is already an indication of the-psychological insight that gives

us the brilliance of the Comedy. The new life is the inner life, his

love-seeking psyche. The several different attitudes to love reflected

in the Vita Nuova give a clear indication of the direction Dante's spirit

is taking. Love is evidently what is worth writing about. It becomes

the true content ofhis poetry.

The Convivio is the link between the Vita Nuova and the Comedy. It

is vital to an understanding of Dante's developing philosophy in relation

to love. Here he turns With great difficulty from his former passions

to a different kind of attachment. Beatric~ has died, and Dante believes

that she has been replaced by an intellectual attachment. Philosophy has

become the object of his study.

In a lengthy discussion of the concept of love, Dante defines it as

the spiritual union of the soul with the objec"t loved, to which union the

soul of its own nature hastens quicker or slower according as it :is free

or obstructed.8 This natural impulse is present in the soul because it

is created by God, and, as an effect of the First Cause, it partakes of

the nature of that cause as much as it can according to its own nature.

Each form shares to seme extent the divine nature, and the human soul,

since it is the noblest, receives most of the divine nature. As a result,

it desires by nature to be united with God. The degree to which the soul

desires union with any object of love depends upon the degree of perfection

of that object, so that by examining what the soul loves, one can determine

what the soul is. Every level in the..... order of creation has its own natural o -----"-,, ,--"--

. , ! 3 o

love for its proper place. Thus minerals and plants, for instance, show

a preference for places where they thrive best. Because man' s body bas

a great deal in common with the lower creatures, he experiences desire

which arises in him as a resut't o~ sensible apprehension. This faculty

needs to be controlled by the rational soul which is his angelic nature.

Dante points out in the third book of the Convivio that mankind should

strive toward the noblest nature of love, tbat which tends toward'reason,

truth and virtue.

Beatrice in the Vita Nuova is an earth1y being celebrated in a

spiritual emotion which raises her above the region of the earth:

Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space Now soars the sigh tbat my heart sends above: A new perception born of grieving Love Guideth it upward the untrodden ways. When it bath reach'd unto the end, and stays, l t sees a lady round whom splendours move In homage; ••• La Vita Nuova, XLII

Dante's love for lady Philosophy in the Convivio is to be treated al1egor-

ically. This is the prelude which will a110w him to find the true under-

standing of Beatrice in the Comedy. Dante does refer to the body, the

eyes and the mouth of the lady;

l affirm, therefore, that, since wehave now ascertained the meaning of this section in which this lady is exto1led with regard to her soul, we must now go on to perce ive how, in saying that 'things appear in her aspect', l exto1 her with regard to her body •••• And since in the face the sou1 operates chief1y in owo places, because in these two places al1 three natures of the sou1, as it were, have jurisdiction, l mean in the eyes and the mouth, she adorns them most of a11 ••• Convivio, III, 8

just as he refers to the eyes and the mouth of Beatrice. William Jackson

attributes this to Dante's nee9 for coherency. The objective Beatrice is o

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linked with the lady Philosophy and the spiritual Beatrice of the Comèdy . th. 9 ~n ~s manner.

The philosophy of love expressed in the Convivio shows a variety of

influences. The Aristotelian concept of love is the natural inclination

or appetite of anything whatsoever for its objecte This inclination

operates in different ways for different objects; in an intellectual

nature it is the func.tion of the will, in sensible natures it is the

function of the sensi~ive appetite, and in natures devoid of any cognition,

it is the·function of the nature being ordered to some end. IO 'This

doctrine has come to be associated with thetheory of weight due to

natural place which"of course, is relevant only to corporeal 'objects,

and as Aquinas points out, is attributable to spiritual substances only 11 by analogy. Thus we have the idea of natural place applying to both

spiritual and corporeal things, referring to the des ire of aIl things to

attain their place in the universe. Man seeks his natural place in heaven

just as air and fire· naturally go up, or earth and water go down. St.

Augustine in his City of God affirms the theory of weight or gravity by . 12 equating weight in the body to'love in the soule Again in the Confessions

he compares the soul' s desire for rest in God with the manner in which 13 aIl bodies seek their natural place in the universe. This idea is also

echoed by Boethius in Book III of the Consolation of Philosophy.14

Dante in his discussion does not distinguish beoween corporeal and

spiritual substances. He takes for granted St. Augustine' s equation of

weight equals love. Also Dante ~mphasizes that man shares in the love of o

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a11 creatures, and even more ~~rtant this union of loves in man is

dynamic. The soul on its journey back to God goes through a hierarchy

of desires for objects, moving restlessly until it achieves Absolute

Good and Beauty. Because the soul is not .always fu11y aware of the nature

of the Supreme Good, it sometimes directs its desire to lesser things,

and when disappointed, it continues its quest.15 This doctrine is devel-

oped particularly in the Purgatorio where the restless yearning of the

soul for the once seen and partly forgotten beauty is attributed to that

memory of God and of ineffable happiness and joy which it received at the

moment of creation.

When we come to the discussion of love in the Comèdy, we find that

Dante bas matured. He is no longer in the passionate phase of the ~

~, or the rationalistic phase of the Convivio. Philosophie contem

plation is not sufficient as the ultimate goal of his love-seeking spirit.

He bas continued his mm journey up the hierarchical ladder.

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2. Comedy

The Divine Comedy is, in Dante's own view, a comedy in the most

classic sense, for it begins in adversity and ends prosperously. In his

letter to Can Grande, he points out that at the beginning of the Comedy,

the subject matter is horrible and fouI, since it is Hell, but at the

end it is happy, desirable and pleas.ing, because it is paradise.16 It

is Dante's ultimate participation with and understanding of God as Love

that makes the hâppy'ending.

The s,tory begins with the punishment of wickedness and ends with

the reward of virtue, as he goes on to explain:

And if the subject of the who le work from the allegorical point of view is man according as by his merits or demerits in the exercise of his free will he is deserving of reward or punishment by justice·, it is evident that in this part this subject has a limitation, and that it is man according as by his merits he is deserving of reward by justice.

The allegorical struggle to leave his vices behind is expressed in terms

of a physical struggle up_a steep slope:

When my tired body had rested a brief space l trod anew the slop~, desert and bare, With the firmer foot s'till in the lower place. And at the ascent, as twere on the first stair, Behold!.... Inferno l, 28-32

This device is consistent throughout the poem. The letter to Can Grande

ends, "the process of the narrative will be by ascent from heaven to

heaven, ••• since, when the Beginning or First which is Gad, has been

reached, there is nought tn be sought for beyond, inasmuch as He is Alpha ,,17 andO mega •••• The sense of ascent to a transcendent God is consistent o with the Augustinian view of man approaching God through a natural process 7 c)

guided by judgment and la~, a function of the dynamic nature of love

itself which carries the intellect with it on its journey upward, always

" d " • " "t 18 expand l.ng an enrl.(:~ll.ng 1. • 'lhis love, or ~, which impels man

through and beyond the lower forms of love and which springs fram that

moment of contact with God during creation is what close analysis of the

Comedy will reveal.

... _._._---- -_ .. _------8 o 3. Inferno

Dante begins his journey in the Infe~o under the guidance of Virgil

who has promised to lead him through Hell and Purgatory. He is assured

that the spirit of love, coming from God throughthe Virgin Mary, Lucia

and Beatrice has urged this frightening journey through Hell:

l am Beatrice who send thee, him to seek. l come from that place for which now l sigh. It was love moved me and made my lips to speak. Inferno, 70;.2

Dante sees the world as God's, inwhich the goal of man's spirit is

earthiy felicity shawn through reaso~and the blesse4ness of eternal

life apprehended by faith. Once he travels b~ond the grave, he can see

all of men's goals and evaluate them in the light of God's judgment. He

finds that Hell itself is made by God and exists as part of God's love.

The inscription on the gate reads:

Me did Divine Authority uprear; Me Supreme Wisdomand Primal Love sustain, Before l was, no things created were Save the eternal, and l eternal abide. Relinquish all hope, ye who enter here. Inferno III, 5-9

It is an understanding of Primal Love and the traces of it in aU mankind

that Dante seeks.

It is not difficult for Dante to understand the operation of God's

love in Hell. As he pointed out in the Convivio, love is the movement

of the spirit toward what it perceives as desirable. Since the human

psyche is created by God, then it needs God as the only subject adequate

to its love. The spirits in Hell have lost their way toward God, and o ·:

':.

1 --~.. _ ..... _-.-_... _.. ------._._._-_.~ ... " ...• _--~,._ .... _-- 1 '\ i 9 l i o their tonnent consists of their unavailing and frustrated desire to ap-

proach God. Thus, in Hell, as on earth, it is the God-given love within

the~human spirit that motivates everything.

Canto V of the Inferno deals with passionate love and lust. The

thousands of spirits of those who in life ~a~ ~de reason subject to lust.

and who have died without repenting are blown along like flocks of birds~

This punishment the carnàl sinners share Who let Desire pull Reason from her throne. Inferno.. V, 39-40

Dante speaks to two of them, Paolo and Francesca, who have loved each

other in heedless passion until they are both murdered by Francesca's

husband Gianciotto. Their lust was intense:

Love.,. that. in gentle heart so soon awakes, Took him with this fair body, which from me W'as torn: the way and wound of it yet aches. Love, that to no loved one remits his fee, Took me with joy of him, so deep in-wrought, Even now it hath not left me, as thou dost see. Love led us both to one death. Inferno V, 100-106

In sonnet XX of the· Vita Nuova, Dante has expressed the same feeling~

Love and the gentle heart are one and the same thing. He has developed

beyond that stage, but Paolo and Francesca gloried in the flesh until

death. This has led them to Hell and eternal torment. It is only one

example of the ways in which love in tbe human spirit can go wrong.

Dante has to struggle upwards to get to the top of the Mount of

. Purgatory, because as his physical body tends downwards, the rational

love which makes him human aspires upwards. Virgil says in Canto XXIV o Cline 53) that the soul wins every1battle if the heavy body does not ------

10 o pull it down. As in the case of Paolo and Francesca, the heavy body

often pulls the rational soul away _from its path of fulfillment. When

Dante reaches the top of Purgatory, he is miraculously lightened.

o ------J ~ i f J 11 10 J 4. Purga tor io

i And of tba~ second realm, which purifies Man's spirit of its sOilure, will Ising, Where it becometh worthy of Paradise. 1 Purgatorio l, 4-6 In the Purgatorio Dante experiences the cleansing which is necessary 1 before he achieves his moral sophistiéation and his full enlightenment. i J It is here that he meets Beatrice again. Now she is a soul in Heaven, and the nature of his love_which began as a passion for her on earth

has developed significantly. This applies equally to the nature of his

love expressed in the Convivio, for he no longer expects to find.the

answer to man's concerns on earth. In the Comedy, he bas realized tbat

man has to strive for a spiritual goal as weil.

Dante makes his way through the seven terraces of Pride, Envy, Anger,

Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony and Lust. In every case the spirits being purged

are shown the right formof love which tbey must strive for and will

achieve when they bave sufficiently suffered the wrong forme In a way,

it is love or desire for that right form that they can see which drives

them onward in their purgation. As Dante bas foundout before at the

gate of Hell, love is always the motive power of the psyche. In Canto XVII,

Virgil points out that ail seven deadly sins are perversions of love or

des ire, the last three being expressions of an excessive desire for tem-

poral goods. Purgatory restores what Virgil caUs "love of the good".

No creature or creator is without love, but God' s cz:eatures often go

astray for different reasons, at which point they are untrue to their o Maker. Love is the seed of pure virtue in every creature, and no creature

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12 o can exist without it.

Dante is still not satisfied with the answer and asks Virgil to

explain the nature of love more fully. It is here ~n Canto XVIII of the

Purgatorio-that the reader finds the main discussion of love in the entire

Comedy. It occurs at the center of the work, as if love is the center of

the actual universe, as well as the center of the universe of the poem.

On the natural level, every soul is potentially capable of love. This

love can be actualized by the perception of an object which is pleasing

to the eye of the beholder. This brings to mind the first glimpse Dante

had of Beatrice in the Vita Nuova. The process in Virgil's words is as

follows:

The mind which is created apt to love, Soon as by pleasure it is stirred to act To every pleasing thing is quick to move. Your apprehension from a thing of fact Drawe th an image, shown to the inward view, SO that perforee it doth the mind attract. And if, being turne d, it is inclined thereto, The inclination is love: nature it is, Which is through pleasure knit within ye anew. Purgatorio XVIII, 19-27

Virgil further compares the proc~ss to that by which fire naturally flies

upward. Essentially the intellect conveys through the senses the form

of a real being in the material world to the mind or will. The mind does

not accept as a matter of course, but bas a free choice to incline itself

toward~ that being or reject it. '!his choice is indicated in the phrase

"if, being turned, ••• ". Virgil bas refer.red to natural -love-which, _through pleasure, is "knit o within ye anew'. This is ano-ther function of freewill, for the will is

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first bound potentially when the choice is offered by the intellect, and

is bound again, irrevocably, once it makes that choice. The mind at

this point cannot rest until it is in possession of the loved object.

The impulse to love and the knowledge of primary ideas are instinctive

in men jus~ as bees have an instinct to make honey. It is significant

that Virgilequates love and knowledge, for, as has been mentioned before,

St. Augustine'saw man approaching God through a natural pro~ess guided

by judgment and law, a function of the dynamic nature of love itself,

which carries the intellect with it on its "journey upwards, always ex

panding and enrJ~hing it. Primarynatural love:isinnocent inits

impulse. Beyond this primary point however, man has freewill , the

power to control the love that arises within him, the ability to accept

or reject:

These reasoners who sought the Founder's plan Have recognized this inborn liberty, And therefore Ethic have they left to man. Wherefore suppose that from necessity Arises every love that in you stirs, You have the power to curb it in your fee. The noble virtue Beatrice avers ; To be Free Will, ••• '.",' Purgatorio XVIII, 67-74 '. 1 This then is natural love. For supernatural love, to which reason cannot attain, Virgil directs Dante to Beatrice:

And he to me: "So far as reason p lead Gan l instruct thee; beyond that point, wait For Beatrice; for faith is here thy need • . 'Purgatorio XVIII, 46-48

This statement indicates the limits of Virgil as a guide, and explains

why he can accompany Dante only to the top._of Purgatory. He is the o 14 -0

representative of reason in general, but since as a man he died before

the birth of Christ, he can explain only the classical and mainly

Aristotelian philosophy of love.19

At the end of Purgatory, Dante meets Beatrice who will develop

further his conception of love. It is the belief in the immortality of

Beatrice, and indeed of all hJ;manity, tbat bas sustained Dante's hope in

the Comedy. He bas come far beyond his youthful passion for Beatrice

the woman.

o 1

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5~ Paradiso

Once in Paradise, Dante finds it difficult to describe the incredible

glory of God, and impossible to remember the nature of it when he is back

on earth. It is beyond the power of ~n's understanding while he is still

on earth:

l have been, and have beheld such things as who Comes down thence has no wit nor power to write; Such depth our understanding deepens to When it draws near unto its longing's home That memory cannot backward with it go. Paradiso l, 5-9

The process of God's eternal love has drawn his spirit rapidly towards

God Rimself once he bas been relieved of the weight of his body and of

< '1 the deadly sins. At the end of Canto l, Beatrice explains this eternal 1 ~ .! principle~

In the order that'I speak of, all natures incline Either more near or less near to their source According as their diverse lots assigne To diverse harbours thus they move perforee O'er the great ocean of being, and each one ] With instinct given it to maintain its course. This bears the fiery element to the moon; This makes the heart of mortal things to move; This knits the earth together into one. Not only creatures that are empty of Intelligence this bow shoots towards the goal, But those tbat have both intellect and love. Paradiso l, 109-120

Once in Paradise, Dante is lifted through various levels which are rulèd

by the Roly Spirit, then Divine Wisdom, then Divine Power. This suggests

again the continual relationship between love and" knowledge. Dante

approaches God only when he achieves maturity in the tbree aspects of o God' s love, God' s knowledge and God' s power. Re is required to exhib i t ------'-.-._---_.. _._._ ..._------...... =-

his understanding in the eighth heaven, when he is asked for his definition

of Faith, Hopeaand Charity. Faith he defines as:

••• the substance of things hoped, and proof Of things invisible to mortal sight. Paradiso XXIV, 64-5 .. It is the power which allows man on earth to believe in the profound

mysteries that can only be revealed tp him in Heaven after death. Hope

is:

••• the certain expectation that the heart Ras of future glory; the effect Of divine grace and precedent desert. Me did the light from many stars direct; He first distilled it into me with his breath, Singer supreme of the supreme Prefect. Paradiso XXV, 67-72

Finally he is asked by St. John to define Charity or love itself.

, . It is significant that Dante is blinded at this moment by the light of .' St. John, and thus he cannot see Beatrice. '!he three virtues of Faith,

Hope and Charity are one and inseparable, and together exp la in how man

can experience the love of God when God is beyond his sight and under-

standing. 'lhey describe the motivation whereby t~e human spirit accepts },.. the creed of Christianity. Love is good or bad only in relation to its " object, since aIl creatures have love. Dante's inability to see Beatrice !, is symbolic of love separated from direct perception of its object, as .: is necessary for love of God by man on earth. Before his explanation, l-~ Dante refers to the introduction of love to him ~y Beatrice as described

in the Vita Nuovac

Let cure come to the. eyes which, when she brought lhe fire I burn with always, were the gate •. o Paradiso XXVI, 14-15 17 o

It is thus that he introduces his-conception of love as he has learned

from his entire experience starting from that incident.

Love is the Highest Good, the goal most worthy of man and that which

his soul seeks by natural inclination:

The Good which utterly contents this Court Is Alpha and Omega of aU les sons love Reads me. Paradiso XXVI, 16-18

God is Love and as such is the Highest Good. The soul of man, which has

been imprinted with God's love at creation, is attracted by goodness

through the process of love. As soon as good is perceived as such by

the soul, it is enkindled with greater love and as such can include more

good. Since all goodness is part of God, the soul is continually being

attracted to God Himself, the primal object of love. God Himself promised

MOses: '1 will make all good pass before thine eyes'. All mankind has

been secured from erring love by the death of Christ.

Dante cites Aristotle as his source, and refers both to the Old and

the'New Testament. It is significant that he regards his development in

the understanding of love as a harmon'ious one, for he does not refer to

the changes from the passionate through the rationalisticato the spiritual

phases.

AU things are moved by the love of God. This conclusion is supported

in Canto XXVIII where Beatrice explains that the intelligences which move

the nine heavens revolve at speeds proportioned to their love of God,

which in turn is proportioned to the depth of their perception. The

Seraphim who move the Primum Mobile see most deeply and move most swiftly. o

------18 o

Beatrice says:

Bence may be seen how the ce1estia1 bliss Is founded on the act that seeth God, o

Not that which loves, which , come th after this. Paradiso XXVIII, 109-111

Love is formed as a result of perception. The princip1e of freewi11

operates between the moment of perception and the moment of acceptance

of that love.

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,. r· < ;, ~ o ~ 1 1 _----- .. -.-.-----.-.-..-.-.....,------..::-:.;,:7:.,.-::::-,- .•.-:,,:-:',-_:"" .. -::::.,.:-' .•. -:-.. ------19 o

6. Love in Dante

Dante's unrestricted development through the experiences of the

Vita Nuova, the Convivio and the Divine Comedy is reflected in the con-

ception of love which he expresses at the end of the Comedy. It includes

all the steps tha~ have gone before; the passion of the first sensual

love, the natural place theory of Aristotle, the Augustinian the ory of

the weight of love and the need of the soul to return to God, perception

of whom has been imprinted on it at creation. All this he has fused

together with certain other elements to give the reader an idea of the

timeless spaceless omnipotent omniscien.t force that is God as Love.

Mazzeo indicates that Dante has taken the idea of the union of loves

the human soul possesses all the faculties of the lower souls and thus

shares their loves -- and has set them in a dialectical motion. 'filus

t h e un~on. ~s . dyna~ca . 11y rath"1.. er l.Uan stat~ca. 11y conce~ve. d • 20 Desire

restlessly pursues Absolute Good and Beauty through a hierarchy of objects.

In its search for the Supreme Good, the soul goes through a pilgrimage,

often mistaking lesser goals for the ultimate one. 'filus it turns from

one thing to another, aIl the time mounting the Iadder, until, if it chooses

the right path, it achieves contemplation of God.

Other elements are emphasized. The opportunity to exercise free

will according to reason, intellect and that part of God in him is given

to man asspart of the process of love. The dynamic nature of love expands

and enriches the intellect, maturing it with a knowledge of itself, while

the intellect in turn feeds the flame of love. But the most important

\ o i i

1 .. -----:------.,..-.....,...,.,------_._--_"-._-," ".~-: ... _...... '. -_._---_. 20 o addition to the definition of love in the Convivio is the truly Christian

element whereby Christ died and went down to Hell for our sins so that

mankind may always have recourse from erringlove. This is the most

powerful expression of the sublime ineffable love of God. This is what

Beatrice had to tell Dante, as Virgil could not, about the blessed whose

desire is eternally satisfied in the joy and glory of God as Love.

------~------~._~-,,-,,-..;."'_ •... _...... - ... '- WCL l~.';:; ... "' ...V.j.,~· .-

o II

LOVE IN TROILUS AND CRISEYDE

1. Chaucer and Dante

Chaucer gained extensive knowledge of Italian language and

literature during his two visits to Italy as a diplomat in the service

of Edward II. Even his early works show a familiarity with Dante's

Divine Comedy, and indeed it is ~he who first mentioned the name 'Dante'

~n< Eng 1<~s h 1<~terature. 21

He moste rede many a rowe ' On Virgile or on Claudian, Or Daunte, that hit telle kan. House of Fame l, 448-50 Once he became acquainted with Dante, he borrowed extensively

from a11 three sections of the Divine Comedy. This is apparent in at

r < h < 1f b < < d < < 22 1east s~xteen poems, t e name ~tse ,e~ng ment~one s~x t~mes.

Chaucer translates a1most word for word more than a hundred 1ines of

the Comedy. For examp1e, the "Invocacio ad Mariam" of the Prologue of

the Second Nun's Tale is a1most a paraphrase of Canto XXXIII of the

Paradiso:

Thou Maycie and Mooder, doghter of thy Sone, Thou welle of mercy~ synfu1 sou1es cure, In whom that God for bountee chees to wone, Thow humble, and heigh over every creature, Thow nob1edest so ferforth ourtnature, That no desdeyn the Makere hadde of kynde His Sone in b100d and f1essh to c10the and wynde.

Withinne the c10istre b1isful of thy sydis Took mannes shap ~e eternee1 love and pees, That of the tryne compas lord and gyde is Whom erthe and see and hevene, out of re1ees, Ay heryen; and thou, Virgine wemme1ess, o Baai of thy bOdy-,aIfd :dweltes.t mayden:.:pure The Creatour of every creature.

21 22

~ (-/

Assembled is in thee magnificence With mercy, goodnesse, and with swich pitee That thou, that art the sonne of excellence Nat oonly helpest hem that preyen thee, But often tyme, of thy benygyntee, FuI frely, er that men thyn help biseche, Thou goost biforn, and art hir lyves leche. Prologue of the Second Nanls Tale, 36-56

This ts Binyon's translation of Dante:

Maiden and Mother, daughter of thine own Son, Beyond aIl creatures lowly and lifted high, Of the Eternal Design the corner-stone! Thou art she who did man' s substance glorify So that its own Maker did not eschew Even to be made of its morta1i:Ly~. Within tby womb the Love was kindled new By generation of whose warmth supreme This flower to bloom in peace eternal grew. 1 Rere thou to us art the full noonday beam '1 Of love revealed: below, to mortal sight, Rop~, that forever springs in living stream. ~' Lady, thou ar't so great and hast such might " That whoso érave grace, nor to thee repair, c Their longing even without wing seeketh flight. ~: Thy charity doth not only him up-bear " Who prays, but in thy bountyl s large excess Thou oftentimes dost even foru~~,the prayer. In thee is pity, in thee is tenderness, ~I In thee magnificence, in thee the sum ~- Of aIl' that in creation most cao bless.Paradiso XXXIII, 1-21 ~ ~. f f Chaucer's Rouse of Fame appears to be ~sed in technical ,',~ =-- .!' imitation of the Divine Comedy to such an extent that Lydgate referred ~ ~' 22 1;' 1/.''" to it as Dante in English. They are both in tbree books, both use !(r:"" ~ ~: the dream-vision technique, bothpoets are under the conduct of a guide ~. ~' ~ and both use the device of an allegorical journey. There has been a ~' ~ t~,' great deal of argument surrounding this kind of evidence. Some critics ~, contend that the similarities between Chaucer 1 s work and Dante' s can ~' Cf. ~ 1 23 o be explained ~aii.Œs being part of a common body of litera;r:y..-:atid

philosophical conventions. The ~osaic background to medieval writings

had certain fundamental concepts, primary among which was order. The

world existed in terms of a hierarchical pattern. Everything including

the Church, ev-il which fitted into the inverse hierarchy of Satan's

kingdom, social organisation, the arts and the sciences, was patterned -' after the divine hierarchy. It is not surprising therefozethat some

relfection of the basic princip les of organisation is seen in the thought

and expression of the age. This may expIa in to some degree similarities

in the outer form or the ~hetoric..- of medieval works. There was, in l addition, a large body of constantly repeated thougbtand discussion on i J l social theory, philosophy and theology whose ultimate source is to be 1 i traced to Greek and Latin anti~~ity, the Bible, the Church Fathers and ,

even oral folk tradition. This latter provided a corpus of stories and

themes, common property to every writer who chose to use them, which

dealt with the universal concern directed toward vice, virtue, the status ~ ,~. of women and the variations of fortune, to name only a few.

This is a good case for parallel development, but a survey of

the sum of the evidence of the s~teen translations makes it obvious

that Chaucer was in possession of a copy of the Divine Comedy when he

wrote most of bis work. Troilus and Criseyde bas its own legacy from

tha t wor k. For examp le:

Benigne Love, thou holy bond of thJnges, Whoso: -= wol grace, and list thee nought honouren, Lo, his desir. wol flee withouten wpges. III, 1261-3 o =:0: .. IbW:fh.. U._' .. _:O.J9S±_...... _C ... >__ ...... ~ ...... ~::. __ .... __ . _.'.

24 o

Lady, thou art~so great and hast such might That whoso crave grace, nor to thee repair Their longing even without wing seeketh flight. Paradiso XXXIII, 13-15 and:

••• the dayes messa,~;:· Gan for to ,l'ise, and out hirebemes throwe; And eestward roos, to him. tha t koude it knowe, Fortune major, than anoon Criseyde. III, 1417-20·

When geomancers see in the East arise Their Greater Fortune, ere the dawn be come By a path ••• Purgatorio XIX, 4-6

and agàin:

Thow oon, and two, and thre~, eterne on lyve, That resaestay in thré~ and two and oon, Uncir.cumscript,~ and al ma~st circumscr~ve. V, 1863-65

That One and Two and Three who even shall Live and reign even as Three and 'IWo and One, Not circumscribed but uncircumscribing aIl. Paradiso XIV. 28-30

Toynbee details several additional examples. F.N. Robinson in his

notes on the text of Troilus and Criseyde is very much aware of the

enormous debt that Chaucer owes to Dante. His line by line references

indicating repetition of the ideas and philosophy of Dante build up the

formidable case that Chaucer shares the same sources and entirely the

same religous philosophy as Dante. Thus the borrowings are not ~.pri-

cious, but are used because of their ideological suitability to Cliaucei!:s

context.

St. Augustine's work is part of the common heritage which Dante and

Chaucer share. His statement concerning love -- Omnis amor aut ascendit, o aut descendit -- emphasizes that there i8 one love, but two directions 25 () of that love. We have seen in Dante an example of ascending love.

Troilus and. Criseyde share a love that descends. Chaucer has not

written a great~o~. of courtly or pagan love as C.S. Lewis suggests 23 in his Allegory of Love nor indeed a deterministic tragedy' in which

an absolutely inescapable desti~ governs the progressof the story, 24 as ,Curz:y' con tends in Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences., Both

Troilus and Criseyde place their ultimate hope in earthly mutable . ,~ 1 objects. This is the nature of their n-agedy •. Dante achieves eternal . !

felicity by exercising bis free will in the right way. Troilus, who

exercises his free will in the most limited fasbion, loses the earthly

object of bis love and is unable to extend his understanding of the nature

of celestial love. This conclusion reveals itself in the same kind of

framework -- tragedy, the pil~image, the guides and the definiti~n

of love - that Dante uses for the . exposition of his tale.

o 26 o .2'. The Tragedy of Troilus

At the end of.Troilus and Criseyde Chaucer refers to his story

as "litel myn tragedye". In defining his comedy, Dante has said

of tragedy~''''at the beginning [it] is admirable and placid, but at the end or issue [it] is fouI and h~~lë!~5 Chaucer explains in

the ~Monk' s Ta le" wha t he considers to be tragedy ;

l wol biwaille, in manere of tragedie, The haim of hem that stoode in heigh degree, And fillen so that ther nas no remedie To brynge hem out of hir adversitee For certein, whan that Fortune list to flee, Ther may no man the cours of hi~witholde. 1991-6

and again; Tragedies noon oother maner thyng Ne kan in syngyng crie ne biwaille But that Fortune alwey wole assaille With unwar strook the regnes that been proude; For whan men trusteth hire, thanne wol she faille, And covere hire brighte face with a clowde. 2761-6

Troilus is the perfect protagoniste He is of high degree, the

gallant son of King Priam of Troy, and the leader of a band of youthful

tnights. As long as bis God-given reason is not overcome by pride then

aIl is weIl. However, Trcilus is as proud as a peacock. He indulges

in boastfulness, chiding and mockery:

God woot, she slepeth softe For love of the, whan thow turnest fuI of te! l have herd told, pardieux, of youre lyvynge, Ye loveres, and youre lewed observaunces, And which a labour folk han in wynnynge Of love, and in the kepyng wbich doutaunces; And whan youre prey is lost, woo and penaunces. o veray fooles, nyce and blynde be ye! o Ther nys nat oon kan war by other be. l, 195-203 27

Pride is the chief sin in Dante' s 'Purgatory. We are therefore

prepared for an inversion of the 're~e' of Troi1us'mind and the

resultant submission to Fortune and sensual de1ights rather than

to reason. Chaucer has introduced this downfa11 not on1y in the

first Unes;

The double sorwe'of Troi1us to te11en, That was the ,~ng Priamus sone of Troye, In lovynge, 'how bis aventures fe11en Fro wo to we1e, and after out of joie, My purpos is ••• l, 1-5: but a1so in his invocation of Tisiphone, one of the three Furies who

"produce many perturbations in the hearts of men, and at the ~ame time

make them transgress in such a way that they are not permitted to take 2.6 any regard either for thëir fame or for any dangers that beset them".

Dante has pictured the Furies as eterna11y suffering in he11. Further,

Troi1us' rai1lery occurs at a religious festival inh~not- of Pallas, the

goddess of wisdom.Ris fall then, and the beginning of his unhappy

love affair are marked by a loss of wisdom or insight and a submission

of his progress to .~pricious Fortune.

Chaucer, in true tragic tradition, sets his story against the

background of the Trojan ~m:..;. The outcome of this long confUct, :;.-"". now close to its end, is already known, and a sense of the disaster

about to befal1.Troy;- intensifies the tragic atmosphere by introducing

the element of destini, a major e1ement in tragedy both before and

subsequent to ehaucer's writing. The inevitabi1ity of the fall of Troy

is one of the bits of avidence which Curry uses to make a case for o 28 o determinism in the entire story, for he argues that Troilus' downfall 27 is equally unavoidable • To make this conclusion, 'however, he is

forced to label the end of Troilus and Criseyde a retraction that is

completely inconsistent with the rest of the tale. He states this in 28 the strongest terms, calling the Epilog a nest of contradictions.

In spite of tbis, he concedes Chaucer's,familiattty with the following

statements of Boethius and Aquinas on the subject. In Book V of The

Consolation o~ Philosophy~9it is explained that Providence, which is divine reason itself and thus immutable, arranges all things and assigns

them individually to their places, forms and times. Fate, ~r destiny,

is subject to this Providence, and functions to set everything in motion.

Fate is mutable, and man can transcend the necessity of his destiny by

submitting bimself ta God. In Chaucer's version;

Thilke thing that departeth ferrest fro the firste thought of God, it is unfolden and summittid to grettere bondes of destyne; and in so moche is the thing more fre and laus fro destyne, as it axeth and hooldeth bym neer to thilke centre of thingis (that is to seyn, to God); and yif the thing elyveth to the stedfastnesse of the thought of God and be withoute moevynge, certes it surmounteth the necessite of destyne. Boece IV, Prosa 6~ 130-9 30 Aquinas makes the same point in Summa Theoligica where he explains

that man's body is subject to the stars, but not his will and intellect.

If he allows bis will and intellect to be governed by his bodily passions,

then he is in the control of destiny. In the C.omedX, Beatrice bas ex-

plained that man bas free will which he should exercise to curb the wrong

direction of love. o

------:-~~~~~~-....- ...... r==-~....,.,;- ...2G'-.-'""~1&iI_;&:;~·· .. ·~'--.,~;... ::· ..... ~:~.__::u_-:__:,_ .• ____ :.·...... - ''',',''1 ...... ~.,.~.:.:~.. ,._.. ------29 o The whole concept of determinism is den;eck-i. by the fact that

there is a possibility of transcending eart~y Fortune'. It is true

tnat Troilus is caught in a historical context that he is not,responsible

for. The same however can be said for Dante, who, by the exercise of

reason and intellect, has transcended destiny. The entfre tragedy is

precipitated by the moral weakness of Troilus, whereby his choice

involved not divine grace but human mutability. Robertson describes

him thus:

His higher reason has now lost sight of providence, of divine, grace, and he has turned instead to the "grace" of the world, the "grace" of Fortune. Troilus is no longer a free agent, no longer a ~~. He is a p~~~! to Fortune, a star-crossed lover, Fortune's fool.

Troilus and ctiseyde is tragedy'because of this downfall, because

love descends.

j, ,i

------______IIIIiI!I ...... ""CIlOll"""""";:;:;=ao::o:=='""'-"", ., .... ~,:.,.;.,; ...... ,._..:..:_~_ .. _" ... _'c_.. •. '_ .....'~_ 30 o 3. Predestination and Free Vill

The whole question of the existence of free choice is discussed

·by Troilus in Book IV, 958-1078. A resolution of the problem of pre-

dis tination and. free will, and the way they fit into God' s scheme is

important to the unders.tanding of Troilus' dilemma. It is not sur-

prising that the discussion arises, for the whole question was under

a great deal of scrutiny and was the subject of much debate in Chaucer's

time. Chaucer'sview has been described as such:

When the human heart is turned towards God and the reason is adjusted tO dis cern the action of Providence beneath the apparently fortuitious events of daily life, the result is the City of Jerusalem, radiant and harmonious within the spirit. But when the will desires its own satis faction in the world alone, the reason can perceive only the deceptive mutability of Fortune.32

Troilus' soliloquy has been extensively criticized. Lounsbury

calls it "the grossest instance of the failure on the part of Chaucer

to comply with the requirements of his ar.t". 33 He claims that it is

too long and that it is irrelevant to the plot. Manly says that Chaucer

"did not restrain within proper limits the ideas brought up by association". 34

These are grave injustices to Chaucer's art, for it would seem safe fo

assume that a poet of Chaucer.' s stature is consistent in his purpose,

especialiy when it is possible to interpret his work as such. Root defends

the piece as "thoroughly in accord with the character as Chaucer conceived

This is the key to the whole debate. Chaucer is presenting a

character and the justification he is likely to give himself for his o situation. 31 o· Troilus begins his argument by. saying: .,

••• al that comth, comth by necessitee: . Thus to b~~;lo:r:n,it is· my destinee. IV, 958-9

Just as his previous happiness was inescapable, so is his present ruin.

He has to justify this other than through his own fault, so he is cer-

tain that the foresight of Providence ·has known that he must lose

Criseyde, for God sees all things,in advance and disposes them according

to their mertts as He thinks is best and right. It seems therefore tbat

not only Troiius' loss but also the reason for that loss are foreordained.

He has found his way out of blame through a paradox. He is responsible

for his dilemma, but could not under any circumstances have acted differently.

Which of the famous scholars shoüld he believe? . Some say that if God

has foreseen everything,·then everything must happen according to the

way He has foreseen it. If God has perfectly foreseen our deeds and

thoughts, then we can only have such deeds and thoughts as He has foreseen

or else His prescience would be imperfect. Thus from the beginning of

GQd;~·s world, man bas had. no free choice, for to believe that God is im-

perfect is heresy.

Other scholars say that foreknoWledge does notcause the happening

of events, but rather, since something is going to happen, then God

must have foreknowledge of it. He foresees things hecause they are to

happen. The resulting necessity is the same. Events are destined to

happen, and therefore manhas no free will. o 32 o Troi1us uses the examp1e .of a man sitting in a chair. He is

there by necessity and the truth of our seeing himthere is a1so a

function of necessity. This rather simplistic examp~e is used to

exp1ain the foreknowledg~ of God, and Troi1us, now a fatalist, has

found a scapegPat for his sorrows. As a novice at philosophy, Troilus'

is necessari1y 1engthy in his discussion. It is 10gica1 insofar as

his 1imited knowledgepermits. His conc1usionthat man has no free

will is stated fo~ times, and at the end of it, he still has not

reso1ved the strugg1e in his mind to work his way 10gica11y out of the

trap of an ~pparent1y .i~_escapab1e destiny. He has heard some men

.. : say tha t "~ chois is ~ëven to us ·.everychon ", and this is the opening

that he seeks in vain.

It is inaccurate to say that neither Troi1us nor Criseyde exercises

choice in the story. In Book II, Pandarus offsBCriseyde the opportu-

nity to love Troi1us:

Goode aventure, 0 beë1e nece, have ye Ful.lightly founden, and ye konne it take. II, 288-91

This choice she makes 1ater:

Of harmes two, the 1esse is for to chese; Yet have l levere maken hym good chere In honour, than myn emes lyf to lese. II, 470-2

The entire period of hesitation and fear during which she is inf1uenced

by Antigone's song and by the nightinga1e shows that she has not yet made

up her mind. When Troilus finally takes here in his arms, she assures 36 him that, had she not been wil1ing,she wou1d not have been there. This o entire process of choosing is repeated in the Greek camp in the case of 33

() Diomede. Troi1us a1so, after seeing Criseyde in the temple, goes

home and decides to love her:

Thus took he

and again:

For with good hope he gan fu11y assente Criseyde for to love, and nought repente. l, 391-2

By·making a choice in favour of love, the twovindicate Dante's'con-

tention that there is free will. Virgil tells Dante in Purgatory;

The power that judges is. inborn in you And ought to guard the fqresho1d of assent. Purgatorio XVIII, 62-3

and again:

Wherefore suppose that from necessity Arises every love that in you".stirs, You have the power to curb.êit in your fee. Purgatorio XVUI, 70-2

Troi1us and Criseyde have exercised that power in favour of love.

That is essentia1ly correct use of the will, for a11 creatures must

love, and Dante himse1f has made the same choice. They went wrong however

in the nature of the love that they chose. Chàucer himse1f, at the be-

ginning of the tale, chooses charity and at the end exhorts youth to

choose the love of God rather than vanity.

Troi1us' entire discussion on predestination and free will is para-

phrased from Boethius' Consolation of Phi10sophy. In Prose 3 of Book V,

Boethius rais es exact1y the same questions concerning God's foreknow1edge

and necessity, and com~s to the same impassethat Troi1us does. Lady

Phi10sophy exp1ains at 1ength how foreknow1edge and free will are reconcilable.

Man is unable to conceive of it because the step by step pro cess of his

...... "" ------~------_._--,,- ... _... _.. - ...... 34 o human reasoning cannot attain to the act of simple insight which divine

foreknowledge is. We are limited in our understanding in terms of

present and future time and thus cannot relate to the timelessness of

the divine. God's foreknowledge does not cause the necessity of future

things, because He sees everything at once in eternity. The concept of

future is a human limitation.

Philosophy·explains in Prose II that everyone has reason and thus

free will. Human spirits are more free the more they maintain themselves

in the contemptation of the divine.mind, less'free when their attention

is distracted toward material things and least free when they are tied to

their sensual bodies. In this last stage the spirit falls away from

reason, is given over to vices and is dimmed by clouds of ignorance.

This is the state of !roilus and Criseyde. They choose the fantasy of

grace that their sensual bodies provide. This accounts for !roilus'

lack of insight and understanding. He cannot partake of the enriching

and expanding intellectual process that Dante has experienced.

...... _- ...... •...... _..... ------:--~-.--:---:-:------_._ ... -."'.-.. _.. --...... 35

4. TroiluJ Pilgrimage

Dente's ascent throughRel1 and Purgatory to Paradise ~ the

clearest expression of St. Augustine's amor ascendit. Troilus' ex-

perience can be seen as the reverse of Dante's journey. First of

a11, he is in the control of Fortune rather th3 n the spi:tit of love

wbich comes from God. Ris fall is similar to that of Adam. He goes

through the temptation of the senses, the corruption of the lower

reason in pleasurable thought and the final corruption of the higher

reason. These manifest themselves throughout the story in three phases;

subjection to Fortune, the enjoyment of Fortune's favour and the denial

of Providence. It can be said that Troilus becomes the subject of

Fortune in Book l, rises to its false heaven in Boo~II and III and 37 descends to i~. hell in Books IV and v. Dante's journey is beyond death. Troilus journey is a mortal one which leads to confusion, despair

and death.

In the Policraticus, John of Salisbury claims that since the

tragic protagonist is of high estate, his fall usually involves a

reversaI of the political hierarchy and bis own intellectual hierarchy. . 38 This crea tes inner and outer danger. In the case of Troilus, the inner

danger i8 the subjection of reason to sensuali~, the outer is his

neglect of the defense of Troy. Even in Rell, Dante recognizes divine

authori~.

Troilus' fa!l is initiated at the moment that he allows physical

beau~ to enkindle lust in his heart. When he first see~ Criseyde; o

_------___,_~_ .. _.. __._._ .. _c_ ... "" __ ",_<_."",-,.~ _ ••• __ 36 o .••• of hire look in him the~ gan to quyken j So gret desir and such affec~g:~~~. That in his hertes botme gan to stiken .Of.hir~ his fixe and depe impressioun. l, 295-8

Dante experienced the same intense feeling at the first sight

of Beatrice. He pays in theVita Nuova II that the spirit of life

began to tremble so violently that the least pulses of his body shook

his entire being. His first words however were "Here is a deity stronger

than l, who coming, shall rule over me", and he felt that his beatitude

had been made manifest to him. Nine years elapsed before he met

Beatrice again. Troilus' contemplation of the physical Criseyde is

of such a lustful nature that he becomes physically ill as a result of

his inability to be with her. He calls out to the God of love in igno-

rance of the fact that he is addressing.a god of:tust. Love is for him

"quike deth", ironically true because he has committed spiritual suicide.

Reason is already subject to sensuality, for all his happiness lies

in Criseyde's body. He submits himself to the misdirected guidance of

unscrupulous Pandarus. Dante is aided by Virgil, the representative of

reason and the emissary of God. Pandarus is the representative of sophistry.

He is aware-:'of;all the arguments against the reality of Fortune that

Boethius' expresses. However, his advice to Troilus is that he submit

himself to Fortune's caprices;

For if hire whiel stynte any thyng to torne, Than cessed she Fortune anon to be. l, 848-9

Boethius too is at the depth of his misery when he hears these sentiments. ------~------

() In Book II, Pandarus visitS Criseyde in the:;month of May. This

month, according to Robertson, is traditionally associated with flowers,

love and lechery. Also it is the month perp~tually established in 39 Paradise before the Fall. She is persuaded to love Troilus for the

most trivial reasons. He is of great renown,he is willing to die for

her and she can domina te him. She is self-seeking and vain, mor'e con-

cerned with keeping her reputation than with the inner qualities of

Troilus. Dante calls Beatrice his beatitude. As an objectworthy of

love, she is a creation of God and an expression of His greater love.

Criseyde proves herself u~orthy of love and is willing to submit her

body as the ultimate form of satisfaction for Troilus.

Troilus finally achieves her graée in Book III, similar to the way

in which Dante achieves the grace of God in Paradise. Chaucer heightens

the irony of the physical consummation by using a great deal of religious

imagery in his description. The glory of God as replaced by the glory

of Criseyde shows the complete corruption of Troilus' reason.'

When he is first in Criseyde's presence the only words he can say to

her are "Mercy, mercy, swete herte!" ,a:sJlnta-tian that may weIl have been

addressed to God. There is dramatic irony in his protestation of love~

God woot, for l have, As ferforthly as l have had konnynge, Ben youres al, God so my .soule save, And shal, til that l, woful wight, be grave! III, 100-103

Only death remains for him. As Criseyde kisses Troilus, Pandarus falls

on bis knees and delivers a prayer of glorification to God, who is Cupid

in this case, and thanks him for the miracle: o

---:-:----:.,.----:-~------~-~,~,'---,.-.~ ...._v ...c.,_ ...... -.."-. -' -~- , 38 o ImmortalfOd, quod he, that mayst nough~ deyen, Cupid, l mene, of. this mayst glorifie; And Venus, thow mayst maken melodie! Withouten hond, me. seneth that in towne, For this .merveilÎe, ich here ech belle sowne. III, 185-9

In order to bring about the next stage of the intrigue, both

Troilus and Pa.ndarus resort to lying and dissembling. Troilus claims

that he will be at the temple of Apollo so that he can be in Pandarus~

house at the opportune moment. Pandarus lies to Criseyde about his -- presence in the house and spins a long involved tale about a fi~~itious

Horaste in order to get her to see Troilus. In the light of Dante's

sojourn in Purgatory where he is cleansed of aIl sin, it is difficult

for the reader to place any positive value on an achievement which must '1 be gainéd by such a process of deceit. Robertson quotes s'ti. Augustine

• U hU as say~ng l f anyone engages h·~s f a i t h to comm~t . a s~n,.... ~t ~s not f a~t . • 40

Indeed there is no faith in Troilus, for his powers of reason have been

inverted. When in the presence of Criseyde he finds'himself caught up

in these lies he faints. Dante loses consciousness at several points

in his journey, and on each occasion he is carried closertoHeaven by

God's will. It is Pandarus who tosses Troilus into bed with Criseyde

and disrobes him.

He awakens inecstasy. He has arrived in his heaven 00 earth and

he siogs a1l:yuu1" of praise to the god of love whom he mista~nly and ... - ..... ~ ironically calls charity:

Benigne Love, thow holy bond of thynges, Whoso wol grace,and list the nought hon~~ La, bis des~ wol fIe withouten wynges. III, 1261-3 1o 1 1------_._------39 c) This prayer is paraphrased from the Divine Comedy when St. Bernard

prays to the blessed Virgin Mary for Dante in Paradise so that he 4l might be taken to the bosom of God. With ruthless irony, Chaucer

has created the ludicrous parallel of Dante in the bosom of God vith

Troilus between the legs of Criseyde. He has pictured for us in the

same image the extremes of love as it has ascended to God and as it bas

descended to lust.

This situation is further emphasized when Chaucer uses.Danters

condemnation of the~~deadly sin of Avarice to praise the activity of

the two lovers: ,

As wolde God·tho wrecches that dispise Serviae of love hadde erys also longe As ~dde Mida, fuI of coveytise, And therto di.~ken hadde as hoot and stronge :1 As Crassus dide for his affectis wronge 'f To techen hem that they ben in the vice, And lover es nought, although they holde hem nyce. III, 1387-93

Dante listens to a spirit condemn vice in the Furgatorio:

And avaricious Midas wre.tched plight, l~ch came for answer to Ms greedy prayer; ,'. At which we laugh.forever, as'tis right. purgatorio XX, 106-8

and Crassus, thou dost know; , Say, did the taste of gold make thy moûth glad? Purgatorio XX, 116-7

The lust of Troilus and Criseyde is as much a deadly sin as Avarice.

Dante attains Paradise after he has been cleansed of his dead1y sins.

Troilas finds his heaven in the perpetration of a deadly sin. This

transitory heaven is all too soon disturbed by the coming of day. The .. - _.. _-----. ------

o celestiallight of Dante's heaven interrupts the deed of darkness of

Troilus and Criseyde. The turning point in their fortune soon comes,

and Chaucer calls on the three Furies, daughters of black night,to

help him in presenting the dismal remnant of the tale. It is suitable

that these Furies suffer eternally in Dante's Hell. They introduce

Troilus' living'hell.

The destiny to which Troilus has made himself subject brings

the spectre of the inevitable doom of Troy back into the story.

Calchas wants his daugher back in exchange for the captured Antenor,

and the Trojan parliament decides to send her'. Troilus' immediate

desolation.is described in terms of the lost souls of Dante's HeU:

And as the la te leaves of Nov.ember faU One after one till on the earthen floor The ruined bough looks on their funeral, So bythat river Adam' s seed impure Cast themselves from the wharf. Inferno III, 112-6

Chaucer paraphrases:

And as in wynter leves ben biraft, Ech after other, til the tree be bare, So that ther nys but bark and braunche ilaft, Lith Troilus, byraft of ech welfare. IV, 225-8

New that Troilus is losing Criseyde, he has nothing but desolation left.

HiS supreme torment occurs while he awaits Criseyde's. return and when

he realizes that she will not come back. Dante describes the carnal sinners

in HeU thus: l learned that in such restless violence blown This punisbment the carnal sinners share Who let Desire pull Reason from her throne. And as their beating wings the starlings bear At the cold season, in broad flocking flight, So those corrupted spirits were rapt in air To and fro, down, up, driven in helpless flight, Comforted by no hope even to lie At rest, nor even bear a pain more ligbt. Inferno V, 37-45

----_._-- ...... ~ ... '~ ~ ------_._.. _,---, _ _.- ~~-'------

This describes well Troilus' suffering. His condition deteriorates physically and psychologically. He has nightmares of faÜing from

great heights, of being alone and of being defeated in battle. These

reflect his tragic fall with the intellectual and political dangers

as they have come about in his experience. He suffers everywhere

from the memory of Criseyde and welcomes death.

He is released from earthly torment as he rises above the sphere

of Fortune. Only then can reason once more control the hierarchy of . his mind. He risesto the eigpjnsphere, which in Dante's co smo logy , ';:-:.,.

is ~he lowest celestial sphere, that of the moon. Below that, are the

corruptible elements of fire and earth, while above are the incorruptible 42 regions of the heavenly spheres. Thus Troilus has come as far as he

can, and only just achieves the ability to look back and laugh at earthly - vanity. Dante's soul has achieved·Absolute GOod...... and Beanty at the end of its pilgrimage • •1 " '. 1

o 42

o 5. The Guides

Virgil and Beatrice a~e Dante's guides to Paradise. Pandarus

and Criseyde fulfil the corresponding function in this story. pandarus

has been unsuccessful in all affairs of love, yet he insists that he

can forward Troilus' cause better than anyone else. He is correct in

the sense that Troilus' cause is misdirected from the beginning. His

~explanation for bis ability as an intermediary in spite of his recurrent

failure is: A wheston is no kervyng instrument, But yet it. maketh sharppe kervyng toUs. l, 631-2 Tbis is the argument of a sophist, a man who bandies words skilfully on

one side or another of any subject for the sake of that skill itself

or other cause, rather than to forward the understanding of the divine :,'. '.' nature in mankind. He appears on the scene only after Troilus has made " > .. , his first fatal mistake, and, in his loss of reason has become vulnerable • ", :j ~. In one of his false conclusions Pandarus suggests that a blind man can ~I i~ lead one who has eyes, suggesting his own shortcomings in the process: fi ! it happeth often 50, That oon that excesse doth fuI yvele fare ,. V By good conseil kan kepe his fr~d~ therfro. ,. l have myselfek seyn a blynd man goo ,.:~; Ther~as he fel that couthe loken wides ,~, ," A fool may ek a wis..... i. of te gide. l, 625-30 ~. .". ". ~ ..r. '"' ~' This is after he has shawn great concern for the divine virtues in ~ ;-:.~. 1<. ~nidiid: '"~. ;': Or hastow som remors of conscience, ~ ~: And art now falle in som devocioun ~: ~ And wailest for thi synne and thin offence, ~: And hast for ferde caught attricioun? r.('. f ~ ~ ..~ (? ~ [ ,i 1 43 o God save hem that biseged han oure town. That so kan leye oure jolite on presse And 'brynge oure lusty folk to holynesse! I, 554-60

Pandarus is the devil who quotes Scripture with great frequency,

always,misinterp~eting it to suit his own purposes. His advice

to Troilus on the nature of Fortune is that no one can avoid its caprices.

Although his understanding of the working of God inmen's lives exceeds

that of Troilus, it becomes obvious that as a sophist he will never really

help Troilus.

Virgil has, taught this ,les son to Dante:

"Norecreature nor creator ever yet, My son, was without love", ••• "Natural, or of the mind: thou knowest it. The natural always i8 from error free; But the other may, through a bad object, err By too much force or its deficiency. Purgatorio XVII, 91-6

The same les son is corrupted by Pandarus:

Was nevere man or'w~mman yet bigete That was unapt to suffren loves hete, l' Celestial, or elletlove of kynde; Forthy som grace l hope in hire to fynde.

And for to spe~ of hire in specyal, Hire beaute to bithynken and hire youthe, It sit hire naught to ben celestial As yet, though that hire list bothe and :~kowthe., I, 977-84. According to him, it would be a vice of Criseyde did not indulge in

sensual love for Troilus. He openly advocates the love of the senses

which Dante learns is valuable only insofar as it leads to divine grace.

Pandarus leads Troilus in prayer to this god of sensual love, and so

persuades him that he falls in his knees and submits himself completely o to misguided leadership. Pandarus laughs when Troilus impores him to 44 o do nothing whichwould not be for' the good of the lady. It is cynical

laughter, for Pandarus' only goa 1 i_s~.t:n.e, physica 1 consuunnation. This

is what eventually leads the two lovers to their disaster. ~

Pandarus approachês Criseyde in May, the month in tradition preceding

the fall. He is we.ll schooled in the worlaly graces, as his actions in

Criseyde's house show. He very cleverly brings up the subject of love

and the need for her to give up her widowhood in favour of the dance

of May. He uses her fear to extol the praises of Troilus; and her curio-

sity.to reveal Troilus' love for her. He eve~-bUrsts into tears when

they seem necessary. He is quite unscrupulous ab0':1t distorting the truth,

and is soon in full control of both characters. He has no difficulty - in leading them both into deceit. Flattery, anger, lies, fo~efulneSs :...... and intr-Çgue become his immediate weapons. These are the means that

are clearly indicative of the end that he is seeking. Virgil as a guide

is the embodiment of Reason, Truth and Virtue. His function is to lead

Dante to~aradise, to expand his knowledge and to keep him on the right

path.

Pandarus seems to be pursuing his own.selfish grati~ication. He

plans frantical~y to bEing Troilus and Criseyde together at the house

ï of Deiphebus. When Criseyde kisses Troilus, he sings praises to the t god of love. On her departure however, he confesses that he has to his great shame become a procurer for Troilus; that, like a pimp, he i has brought him his own nei~e.. He assures Troilus that it was done only 1 for Troilus' joy, not for private ends, and that he would never do it o again for any man. ------~~~~-~=.==,--=-~------

This very apology suggests that Pandarus, because he cannot

be successful in love himself, strugg1es to bring about the consum-

mation of desire in others in order to satisfy his own pangs of desire.

As soon as Criseyde has been bedded, Pandarus comes to her, lifts the i covers off, and kisses her. He derives his own satisfaction from the intrigue. Chaucer says: i l passe al that which chargeth nought to seye. What! Gad foryaf his deth, and she al so " Fo~f, and with her unc1e gan to p1eye 1.., For ~ther cause was ther noon than so • But of this thing right to the effect to go, Whan tyme was, hom to here hous she wente, And Pandarus bath fully his entente. III, 1576-82

Pandarus answers Troilus' thanks in these words:

~ deere frend, if l have donefor the In any cas, God wot, it is me lief; And am as glad as man may of it be, God help me so; III 1618-21

He then listens with great p1easure to TroUus' account of that night,

warning him only to be discreet.

When Criseyde is about to be sent away pandarus too is'distraught;

Who would have W.e~ that in so lite1 a throwe Fortune oure joie wo1d ~_overthrowe ? IV, 384-5

and he concludes again that there is no way of contro11ing Fortune.

Although he had previously sworn never to be a procurer again, he now

promises to find Troilus another woman. A1ternate1y he recommends

keeping Criseyde by force, thus encouraging Troi1us to keep their sensua1

love affair as the centre of his wor1d. His responsibi1ities as a prince

have become meaningless. It is Troi1us who points out that the very

------_._-~"'---""'~,,~, ...... ~-.--.~:.:---~_._ ...... ;. -- 46 war inwhich they are involved was precipitated by the abduction;of a woman. Pandarus is really no help to Troilus in his ttme of agony and despair, for he has effectively lea him to a living hell.

Dante, when he first saw Beatrice, was struck by her beauty, charm and dignity to the extent tbat he thought her an angel. His reaction was very much like Troilus';

••• -, sodenly he wax therwith astoned, And g~n hir bet biholde in thrifty wise '0 mercy, God," thoughte he," wher ~stow woned, That art so feyr and goodly to devise?" l, 274-7

However, out of this human love, Dante developed an understanding of divine love. Gilson expresses weIl the les son of the Divine Comedy which Troilus failed to learn: "Human love ••• is never anything but a finite participation in God's own love for Himself. Man's misery lies in the fact that he can so easily deceive himself as to the true object".43

It is the human Beatrice who leads Dante to the understanding of the spiritual power which is being expressed to him through her. When he has progressed far enough, she leads him through the final stages of Paradise. The human Criseyde, on the other band, although she understands the transitory nature of human life, is ea~ily given to disillusionment, and as such is no tr·ue help.-to Troilus. She first meets pandarus' proposition with its deserved reaction;

Àllas f017 WO ! Why nere- l deed? For of this world tne feyth is al agoon. Allas! what sholden straunge to me doon When he~ that for my beste frend l wende, Ret me to·love, and sholde it me defende? II,409-13 but she soon allows Pandarus to convince her. In Book III ( 820-833) she

------~------,---,--,- --- ,------,------,---

expresses her knowledge of the way Fortune works, yet~he later sub- ' .••.. .:,.i.,.. ~ .. mits'herself and Troilus ta it. Criseyde could sa easily have ex-

hibited a degree of insight which would have led her ta search fat""

happiness beyond mutable things. C.S. Lewis refers ta her tragic

fl~w, her fear, as the element which prevents her from achieving a

deeper awareness. He says: It is Fear--fear of loneliness, of old age, of death, of love, and of hostility; of everything, indeed, that can be feared. Andfrom this fearsprings the only positive passion which can be permanent in such a" natural; the pitiable"longing, more childlike than womanly, for protection, for some strong and stable tà!ng that will hide her away and take the burden from her shoulders. Pandarusknows of this fear, for she,tells him: l am of Grekes sa fered that l deye. II, 124

and Chaucer says of her: Criseyde which that weI neigh starf for feere, SA as she was the ferfulleste wight That myghte be... II, 449-50

Even when she has convinced herself of the worthiness of Troilus, her

fear returns like a dark cloud:

A cloudy thought gan thorugh hire soule pace, That overspradde hire brighte thoughtes:::àl1e, So that for feerealmost she gan to falle. II, 768-70

It is difficult to say for certain whethar the intensity of this type

Qf fear, expressed in Criseyde's almost paranoiac~ need for stability

which affects the course of the story, is a result or a cause of her

lack of awareness of the permanence~and stability of God. Suffice it

ta say that she lacks that awareness, and sa can lead Troilus only ta

futility. Even her love for him is overwelmed by this fear, a condition

which precipitates her attachment ta Diomede.

""""__ ------~ __------...... """"g~-:c ~'r:;ooo...... _~...r_.I".. ..._..... I4•• ~...;,.c.~... ~:.'.';.::... -._-..:- ...:.~ .... ,._,~_ .'. 48

It may even be unfair to describe a character with such crowning

lack of confidence and strength as a guide for anyone. Her betrayal

of Troilus in favour of Diomede must undoubtedly rank much lower than

the carnal sin of which they are already guilty. Dante says of treachery

in the Inferno -- XI, 55-6 :.- that it makes mankind forget the love which

Nature makes. Although it cannot destroy love, it destroys trust, thus

isolating the soul. This makes it a deathly sin.

Dante moves in his pilgrimage towards Beatrice and the beatific

Vision of Gbd. Criseyde is the object of love towards which Troilus

moves. She is herself a fitting subject for Dante's Hell, just as she

leads Troilus to his. At the end, he does not share the vision of God's

glorious love that Dante participa tes in, but merely looks down at the

world and condemns blind lust.

.. - --_._-_ ..•. ------_" "-"-/ .. . 49

6. Love in Chaucer

Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer' s most famous love story. He

sets out to write about "the double sO:J;We of Troilus .... in lovynge", evidently finding the subject of love as worthy of his study as Dante does. F.N. Robinson singles out Boethius and Dante as the scholars 45 who influenced significantly the thought of the poem: Itis by no means simply a poem of passionate love, as some have claimed. lts exploration of terms such.as free w~ll, fortune, Providence, predestination, the love of God and the love of worldly goods make it as intense a study of love as the· Divine Comedy.

Chaucèr accepts the concept of one universal love. At the beginning of his tale, he speaks to lovers and asks them to pray for

Troilus and lovers like him. He himself,:however, will live in charity, which, according to St. Augustine, is the love of self or of one's neighbour for the sake of God. lt is evident that he intends all lovers to love as he does:

For so hope 1 my sowle best avaunce, To prey for hem that Loves servauntz be, And write hire wo, and lyve in charite, And for to have of hem compassioun, As thou3h 1 were hire ownee~rother dere. 1.47-51

No disaster or unhappiness can come if love follows this direction.

With this warning he bids us listen well to the misfortune of Troilus in bis love for Criseyde. Troilus chooses the wrong direction of love, the one that descends. He starts off by making a mockery of love which is the force that holds the world together:

That Love is he that alle thing may byndel For may no man fordon the lawe of kynde. l, 237-8 50

Dante in the Convivio bas described love as that part of the divine nature in a11 things, the spirita1 impulse which binds every creature

to the object of its désire. Chaucer continues:

Refuseth nat to Love for to ben bonde, Syn, a's hymselven list, he may. ..yow. b'nde. l,' 255-6

Love is hot within man' s control. Virgil bas said that a11 .creatures sbare in love. As a result it is futile to attempt to avoid it.

Moreover, Chaucer says, it.is a positive force for it eases the cruel heart, makes worthy men worthier, and causes them to ~ead vice and shame.

This is on1y if the direction is the right one.

Troilus, after seeing Criseyde, refers to himself as "al stereless withinne a boot". This phrase is taken from Proverbs 23, 33-34:

"Thy·! eyes sha11 beho1d strange women, and tb,y.. heart sha11· utter peverse things. And thou sha11 be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast as1eep when the stern is 10st". With the inversion -, . of bis reason, it is his who1e intellect that has gone awry. He wonders " whether love is or is not, whether it is good or bad, why he is suffering tormerit and yet thirsts for more. He lacks the true understanding of love and the ability to gain that understanding. Thus he suffers the paradoxes; the living death, the sweet harm, t4e painful heat of cold and cold of heat. His abandonment of reason in favour of sensuality is the basis of the who1e tragedy. Very soon he wishes that bis rudderless boat would arrive at the port of death:

Love, ayeins the which whoso defendeth Hymselven most, hym .alderlest avay11eth, With disespeyn so sorwfu1li me offendeth, That streigth unto the deth myn herte saille th. l, 603-6 i i :1 51 ! 1 i ;

~ . i 1 1 l Criseyde feels that she is knowledgeabilé about love since she 1 ~-,~

knows many who have suffered its to~ents~. She too lacks the necessary 1 l insight, for she claims that she is u~illing to give up hersecurity ,•! 1 i for the folly that is love: j ;

May l naught weI in other folk aspie 1 Hire dredfull joye, hire constreinte and hire peyne? 1 i Ther loveth.noon, tbat she nath why to pleyne. l j For love is yet the mooste stormy lyf. II, 775-8 1 1 j ! It takes the song of Antigone in yraise of love to convince her. The l .,1 ~ song begins with the glorification. of ? God of love who may weIl be l .Î Providence: l 1 .;.. :;O~ .Love, to whom l bave and sbal ,1 ! Ben humble subgit, trewe in myn entente, j As l best kan, to yow, .:fiord, yeve ich al, % l For evermo, myn hertes lust to rente. II, 827-30 ], j ~ The state of bliss however is attributed '1:0- thà~~ love of one who has '1 " .~ promised to serve his lady with his very life, "unweri and unfeyned". ~ ,? This is precisely what Troilus bas vowed to do for Criseyde. This is .~ •'1 .) the error in love that Virgil has warned about: .;

The other [love] may, through a bad object, err By too much force or its deficiency. While to the prime good 1 'tis resolved to steer, And in the second keepeth measure due, Of sinful joy it cannot be the spur. Purgatorio XVII, 95-9

The prime good refers to the heavenly blessings that should always be

love's goal. The second good refers to worldly blessings which should

be sought in moderation under the control of the first. In this way 1-, sin is avoided. Troilus abandons himself completely to worldly blessings. J o Like the lover of Antigone's song, he bas given his life in the service of a woman. t :1 52 o The song concludes that there is no danger in love, for whoever

says it is a vice or slavery defames it. This conclusion is e~oneous

. only in relation to its context. Love is good or bad onlyin.relation

to its object and its direction. Criseyde asks of Antigone:

Lord, is ther swych blisse among Thiseil:overe's, as ther konne faire endite~~ II, 885-6

The answer is yes, for the swn total of aIl humanity· could not describe

the happiness of love. In her innocence, Antigone has said more than

she understands. Dante finds it impossible to recoUnt the glory of

Paradise and of God~s love. Antigone concludes that not every man can

enjoy this perf~ct joy, for there are some who claim ta be in love when

they are not. The full nature of love is lost on her, and Criseyde

does not ask how one èames to know love in its correct form.

Chaucer's invocation to Venus at the beginning of Book III reveals

his Christian conception of the love of God. He addresses Venus first

in the astrological sense, as the planet which illwninates the third sector

of heaven. Then he calls on her as the daughter of Jove who is the

classical representation of God. In this form she is beloved of the s~

and the delight of love itself, the cause of happiness and salvation.

The Christian idea that aIl things in the world exist through God's love--

"1 am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord",

Revelations l, 8.-- has been explained by Beatrice in reference to the

Divine Essence:

From that point of light Dependeth Hea~D, and aIl things that exist Look on that éircle most conjoined with it; And know, its motion is so swift by aid Of love, whose kindling spurs its oeward flight. Paradiso XXVIII,41-5 ." . 53

() Chaucer gives his version;

In hevene and helle; in erthe~ and. salte see Is felt thi myght, if that Iwel descerne; As man, bttd, best, fissh, herbe, and grene tree Thee fele in tymes with vapour eterne. God loveth, and to love wo1 nought werne; And in this world no lyves creature Withouten love is worth, on may endure. III, 8-14

a reference to the law of the universe. He includes sexual love, where

even the mighty.Gods, Jove and Mars are subject to the influence of

Venus. The overwhelming effect of this invocation is that there is one love in the universe. Virgil tells this to Dante in~urgatory.- when he says that no creature is bornwithout love. There is natural love

which is without error, and rational love which may err by too much or

foo little force, but a1l love is part of and the same as God's eternal 46 love.

This implication is repeated in Troilus' praise of love. He addresses

Love, Charity, Citheria, Venus and H~n in the same hymn of praise.

In the consummation of his sensual love, he sees himself as one with

them:

For nevere man was to yow goddes holde As l, which ye han brought fr~ cares'colde, III, 1259-60

He too addresses love as the "holy bond of thynges" without which there

is no life. At-the end of Book III he repeats the idea in a second song.

In Chaucer's last statement on love he advises the young to for sake

worldly varity and to love the God that died on the Cross. This is a

Chris.t~ affirmation on bis part in the same spirit as Dante' s' recognition o that Christ died so as to .secure us from erring love: ------

Repeyre'th hom fro worid1y vany te o And of youre herte up casteth the visage To thi1ke God that after his ymage Yow made. - V, 1837-40

Boethius and St. Augustine a1so teach the same lesson. Troilus repents

the vain worldly love that he has experienced, for it has put him through

a process of suff~ring which is necessary for the achievement of spiritual

maturity. Once in the eighth sphere he looks down_on the wretched world

and despises it. _ AlI on earth is vanity in comparison to the full fe-

licity of Heaven. Dante is not so extreme in his comment when he looks

back over the seven spheres to "the small round floor that makes us passionate".

MY sig~t through each and aIl the seven spheres Turnedback; and seeing this globe there manifest, l smiled to see how sorry it appears. Paradiso XXII, 133-5

He recognizes that God is conceived through earthly things, since his

human love for Beatrice has 1ed him to the conception of divine grace.

However man must bring his judgeme~t to bear on the divine; if he makes

it subject to earthly things he is lost. Troilus cannot rise beyond the

eighth sphere, for it is here that Dante is questioned on the subjects of

Faith, Rope and Charity. The sop~isticated and enlightened knowledge of

love that his enriched intellect allows him to express has not been attained

by Troilus;~

Chaucer glorifies God's love, God's mercy and God's trinity:

Thow oon, and two, and thre, eterne on lyve, That regnest ay in thre, and two, and oon, Uncircums cr ipt, and al maist circumscrive. V, 1863-5

In the circle of the spirits in Paradise the glorification of God is ex-

pressed in the same terms: 55

o That One and TWo and Three who ever shall Live and reign ever as Three.and TWo and One, Not circumscribed but circumscribing aH. Paradiso XFl, 28-30

This is the ultimate common tribute to God's aIl powerful love that

Dante and Chaucer share.

o """"""-______.._.'~ZL~_=.~. __~".,~" •. """ __ ... ____ .______

' .. '" .:~ ... -ç

u III

CONCLUSION

Love is the seed of pure virture instilled in aIl creatures by . . the Creator. Of aIl creatures man sbares most pf the divine be~ng~.

Thus, spurred on by the very nature of God's universal love, he is perpe-: ..

tually on a pilgrimage to regain that ineffable glory from whence he

came. These two poems relate theqüest of man to attain the Summum

Bonum, aguest that frequently fails by misdirectian, and occasionally " succeeds by virtue of complete submission to God's judgement.' At the

core of medieval religion and philosophy was a belief in the inherent

insufficiencyof earthly things and in the sole reality and completeness of God. The:;p.~:ryas.f#éiless~>o,fjthis Christian beHef is expressed in the ..... ' ...... - ~- " .. - .

divine hierarchical pattern which ~ll aspects of medieval culture share.

St. Augustine's model of amor ascendit aut descendit is the link

which joinstogether Dante's Divine Comedy and Chaucer's TDoilus and

Criseyde as expressions of the Christian faith. The close historical

link between the -:~o poets has allowed Chaucer to make good use of Dante' s

forms and expression and also to repeat and make more current his ideas.

Critics who feel that Chaucer is celebrating a pagan love have

criticised him extensively for the apparent contradictions and paradoxes

at the end when he advocates the love of Christ. This thesis bas

attempted to shaw that he is consistent. He is the first English poet

to reproduce Dante's work. Nowhere in the multiple instances where he

bas made use of portions of the. Divine Comedy bas he shawn any inclination o to contradict Dante's ideas.

56 57 o That Dante arrives in Paradise and Troi1us in the lowest sphere

of Heaven is simp1y an express.ion of the different directions their

love has followed. " Dante by way of God's insight achieves God's ulti-

mate glory. Troi1us fa11s short. Their quest is in each case a vindi- ...... cation of the process of God's love. p..; $ ..

k C"

FOOTNOTES

1 Qu,oted from F. David Lenfant, Concordantiae Augustiniae sive Collectio Omirl.um. Sententiarum. (Brussels: Sebastian Cranoisy, 1965), II, under Amor.

2 St. Augustine, "Expositions on the Book of Psalms" in The Nicene and Post Nicené Fathers of the Christian Church, ed. Philip Scha!f (New York: Charles Scribnerfs Sons, 1908), VIII, 593. 3' St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, trans. D. W. Robertson Jr. (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958), III, 10. . 4 Quoted from D.W. Robertson Jr., A Preface to Chaucer:Studies in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton: Princeton University Press,1962), p. 26.

5 . Robertson, Preface, p.26.

6 Information on Dantefs first meetings w.ith Beatrice has been obtained from Charles Williams, The figure of Beatrice (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1958), pp. 6-8. 7 Dante lligheri, "Ia Vita Nuova" in The Portable Dante, ed. Paolo Milano, transe Iawrence Binyon and others (New York: .The Viking Press, 1947), p.551. Subsequent references from this and from The Divine Comedy will be to this edition.

8 Dante lligheri, Convivio, transe Walter Jackson (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1909), III, 2.

9 Convivio, p.18.

10 Joseph A. Mazzeo, Structure and Thought in the Paradiso (New York: Greenwood Press, 1968), p.50.

58 ,-.

II The theory of analogy is discussed in Mazzeo, pp. 50-52.

12 St. Augustine, .city of God, trans. Gerald B. Walsh (New York: Doubledayand Co., 1958), XI, 28. 13 St. Augustine, Confessions, trans. Edward B. Pusey (New York: Collier Books, 1961), XIII, 9.

14 Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece III, 9. This translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy appears in F.N. Robinson's edition, The Works of Geoffrey Cliaucer (Boston: Houghton Miffin Company, 1957). Ail Chaucer references will be to this edition•.

15 Convivio, IV, 12.

16 Dante Aligheri, Letters, transe Paget Toynbee (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1920), X,l0.

17 Letters X, 33.

18 Mazzeo, p. 61.

19 Francis Ferguson,~ (New York: Collier-Macmillan Ltd. ,1966), p.149.

20 Mazzeo, p. 56.

21 Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature (London: Methuen and Co., 1909), l, 73.

22 Toynbee, p.l. The sizteen references and the six by name are detailed on pp. 2-16. 23 C.S. Lewis, The Ailegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), p.197. 24 .n Walter C. Curry, Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences (New York: -- Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1960), p.297. ~._- .....

(j'"';' 25 Letters X, 10.

26 Robertson, Preface, p. 474.

27 Curry, p. 251.

28 Curry, p. 296.

29 Boece IV, 6.

30 Summa. theologica. Quoted from T.O. Wedel, The Medieval Attitude Toward Astrology (New Haven: Yale Uni'Yersity Press, '_920), p.6?

31 Robertson, Preface, p. 492.

32 Robertson, Preface, pp. 496-7.'

33 Thomas R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1892), III, 372.

34 J .M. Manly, Anniversary Papers of G.L. Kittredge (Boston: Ginn and Co., 19l~), p. 77.

35 Robert K. Root, The Poetry of Chaucer (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 1906), ~ ll7.

36 Troilus and Criseyde III, 1210-ll.

37 D.W. Robertson Jr., "Chaucerian Tragedy," ELH, XIX (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1952), p.9.

38 Quoted from Robertson, "Tragedy", p. 13.

39 Robertson, Preface, p. 257 n.

40 Robertson, Preface, pp. 486-7. 61

i1",~, 41 Paradiso :xxxIII, 13-15.

42 Letters X, 23.

43 Etienne Gilson, The S}irit of Medieval Phi1os.ophy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 , p. 274. 44 Loos, p. 185. 45 Robinson, p. 388. 46 Purgatorio XVII, 91-6 •

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