The Use Of Love In Troilus And Criseyde

14 Pages 3564 Words

Page 1
Scholars of Chaucer agree that Latin poet Dante influenced the former’s writing of Troilus and Criseyde. As Barry Windeatt says, “Close verbal parallels are relatively few, but there a range of significant parallels in both poets’…understanding of love…which suggest how Chaucer may have had the example of the Divine Comedy in mind as he worked on his Troilus” (125-6). The extent of Dante’s influence has remained an issue of debate, especially when talking about the closing stanzas of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. What exactly do the last six stanzas of Troilus and Criseyde mean? Are they a reference to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and if so, how much of a reference are they? Was Chaucer reiterating Dante’s thoughts on love, or was he mocking them? It is my argument that the narrator of Troilus and Criseyde, while not completely condemning earthly love, ultimately agrees with Dante’s implication in the Divine Comedy that people should focus their attention on the Divine Love of Go!
d instead of the earthly love of humans, because it is only through God’s Love that one can reach heaven.
My claim will be supported by dividing the paper into two parts. The first part will deal with how Troilus and Criseyde’s narrator is taking the Christian perspective of why humans should look towards God’s Love. The second will deal with how Chaucer deviates from Dante in the fact that the narrator of Troilus and Criseyde doesn’t completely denounce earthly love. My thoughts will be established by focusing on the final six stanzas of Troilus and Criseyde while drawing from other sources I feel are valid, including other sections of Troilus and Criseyde, Dante’s Divine Comedy, other critics’ thoughts, and Chaucer’s biography.

Page 2
First I will discuss the issue of Troilus and Criseyde’s narrator ultimately agreeing with Dante’s thoughts of the Divine Comedy, that people should focus their attention on...