Troilus and Criseyde
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- For the Shakespeare play, see Troilus and Cressida.
Troilus and Criseyde is Geoffrey Chaucer's poem in rhyme royal (rime royale) re-telling the tragic love story of Troilus, a Trojan prince, and Criseyde. Many Chaucer scholars regard this as his best work, even including the better known but incomplete Canterbury Tales.
Troilus and Criseyde is an example of a courtly romance, and although it does contain many common features of the genre, generic classification is an area of significant debate in most Middle English literature. Although mentioned in Homer, the story of Troilus and Criseyde was first written by Benoît de Sainte-Maure in his poem Roman de Troie; Boccaccio re-wrote the story in his Il Filostrato which in turn was Chaucer's main source. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida was based in part on Chaucer's poem. The poem was continued by Robert Henryson in his Testament of Cresseid.
The relationship between Chaucer's Troilus and his source material (Il Filostrato) is discussed extensively by C.S. Lewis in The Allegory of Love. Briefly, Chaucer's poem reflects a less cynical and less misogynistic worldview than Boccaccio's; his Pandarus is well-intentioned and his Criseyde sincere but fearful, rather than simply fickle.
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'Troilus and Criseyde'
'Troilus and Criseyde' is a rarity in the works of Chaucer in that he managed to finish it. As well, the poem captures Chaucer at the height of his artistic power. He achieves great elegance and fluidity in the difficult Rhyme Royal4 measure while depicting vivid characters and emotions within a coherent plot.
The story was an old one when Chaucer took it over, but not as old as it pretends to be. Chaucer took the story over from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, making some changes to characters, lengthening the story, and vastly improving it. Boccaccio himself borrowed the story from an earlier Italian, Guido delle Colonne. Guido got his version from the Frenchman Benoit de Ste-Maure in the Roman de Troie, who pretended that he got it from the Romans Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis. The works of Dares and Dictys do not mention anything approaching the story of 'Troilus and Criseyde' (although the character Troilus is mentioned, as referenced in Homer's Iliad - which also contains a similarly named Cressida). In fact, the story of 'Troilus and Criseyde' bears only the most superficial of links to the Classical legends of the Trojan War; for the most part it is a wholly medieval invention.
Troilus, a prince of Troy, has fallen in love with Criseyde, the daughter of a Trojan seer, Calchas. Calchas has fled Troy to the enemy Greek camp, taking his daughter with him. Troilus's uncle, Pandarus, arranges for the couple to exchange letters and, finally, for them to share a night in the privacy of his house. Calchas convinces the Greeks to demand his daughter in exchange for the release of a Trojan prisoner. Both young lovers are distraught, but Criseyde promises to return to Troilus in ten days. On the tenth day, she is seduced by a Greek prince, Diomedes and remains with the Greeks. Through dreams and prophecies from his sister Cassandra, Troilus learns rumour of Criseyde's betrayal, but is only convinced when he sees Criseyde's brooch on Diomedes' armour. Troilus then runs into battle in a rage, fighting Diomedes whenever he can, and finally being killed by the great Greek warrior, Achilles. The story was picked up by Robert Henryson in The Testament of Crisseid and retold by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida. The tale of separated lovers and ensuing tragedy is arguably a source for the plot of Romeo and Juliet, and the lover's facilitator, Pandarus, is immortalised in the modern English verb 'to pander'.
