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XVIII.—The Character of Criseyde

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

The main view which I shall here present was formulated about the time of the last meeting of this Association in New Haven, when Professor Price, of Columbia University, read his paper before the Association on Troilus and Criseyde. In that year, 1895—6, I was giving an undergraduate course in Chaucer, and found, on coming to Troilus and Criseyde, that a majority of the men in the course felt that a great change for the worse had come over Criseyde's character after her departure for Troy. This led me to look with more care into the poem, both to see how far there might be a basis for such a view, and to discover items of evidence tending to modify this impression. The opinion which I then came to entertain was communicated to my graduate seminary in Chaucer in the academic year 1899–1900, and in various other years. In the present paper, this view is supported by some additional considerations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1907

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References

page 531 note 1 See the reference to this in Dr. Robert K. Root's Poetry of Chaucer (1906), p. 115, note.

page 533 note 1 Cf. Ovid, A. A. 2. 711 ff.

page 533 note 2 Another reflection, it must be remembered, of Boccaccio's notorious Maria; see the Dedication to the Teseide, and Crescini, Contributo agli Studi sul Boccaccio, p. 211.

page 536 note 1 See Symonds, Ital. Lit. 1. 121; cf. 1. 113, 122.

page 536 note 2 According to the computation of Dr. E. H. Wilkins.

page 537 note 1 In the Filoclo (Bk. 4: 8. 79 Mou.), the queen, another incarnation of Maria, says: “Rimanga adunque simile scellerato ardire nelle pari di Semiramis e di Cleopatra, le quali non amano, ma cercano di quietare il loro libidinoso volere, il quale quietato, non più avanti d' alcuno più che d'un altro non si ricordano.” See Maria's picture of her own heartlessness and blasphemous arrogance in Filocolo, Bk. 5: 8. 260 ff. Mou. (cf. Della Torre, p. 191). With this compare T. and C. 4. 1406 ff.

page 538 note 1 Fiam., p. 139.

page 538 note 2 From one point of view, the Filostrato, and Troilus and Criseyde as well, might be regarded as a lengthy series of illustrations of the less savory parts of the Roman de la Rose, and of certain portions of the Art of Love (especially Bk. 3). Crescini has shown how the Fiammetta may be regarded as modeled on Ovid's Heroides (pp. 156 ff.) I may perhaps mention in passing that Maria's unfaithfulness to Boccaccio is affirmed or clearly implied in at least six passages of his works, and is referred to in still others.

page 539 note 1 When Filocolo (Florio) is drawn up by the window in a basket of flowers, Glorizia receives him, hides him in a room adjoining that which is to be occupied during the day by Biancofiore and her attendants, and at night ensconces him behind the curtains of Biancofiore's bed. Meanwhile, the nurse passes from the one to the other, holding conversations with each about the other, Biancofiore having no suspicion that he is near. Finally, late at night, Filocolo discovers himself to Biancofiore, Glorizia being meanwhile asleep in an adjacent room (Filocolo, Bk. 5: 8. 166–182 Mou.; cf. 7. 71, 118). See Della Torre, pp. 270 ff.; Crescini, pp. 80 ff.; and cf. Amelo, p. 156. Since writing the above, my attention has been called to the article of Mr. Karl Young, in Modern Philology for July, 1906 (4. 169–177), entitled Chaucer's Use of Boccaccio's ‘Filocolo.‘

page 540 note 1 Cf. Filocolo, Bk. 4: 8. 78–9.

page 541 note 1 Cf. 5. 897–9.

page 541 note 2 This facility in weeping, it will be recalled, was inherited by Criseyde (1. 111; 4. 750, 814, 912; 5. 712, 725, 1046, 1052). Perhaps she liked to verify Ovid's saying (A. A. 3. 291–2):

Quo non ars penetrat? discunt lacrimare decenter,

Quoque volunt plorant tempore, quoque modo.

And seyden, he and al his kin at ones

Ben worthy for to brennen, fel and bones.

page 542 note 1 Cf. above, p. 537, note.

page 542 note 2 Cf. her reproaches to her father, Roman de Troie 13685–739.

page 544 note 1 Troilus' good governance, by the way, consisted in dissimulation (3. 427–434; cf. 477–483); one would like to know how his reason bridled his delight (4. 1678), and precisely what Criseyde understood by his “moral vertue, grounded upon trouthe” (4. 1672).

page 545 note 1 Cf. Wife of Bath's Tale, 87–88:

For be we never so vicious withinne,

We wol been holden wyse, and clere of synne.

Cf. Filoc., pp. 78–9; Fiam., p. 67.

page 545 note 2 Cf. Shakespeare, T. and C., 1. 2. 312 ff.

page 545 note 3 It is the fashion to regard Pandare as well advanced in years; Ten Brink, for example, calls him an “ elderly gentleman with great experience of life.” It might be worth while to marshal all the evidence for and against this assertion. I content myself here with adducing a few passages which point in the direction of relative youth:

  1. 1.

    1. 1. In the Filostrato, Pandaro tells Troilo that he himself is in love (2. 13. 7, 8):

    Ed io, come tu sai, contra mia voglia

    Amo, nè mi può tor nè crescer doglia.

    Similarly in T. and C. 1. 666–7:

    Right so fare I, unhappily for me;

    I love oon best, and that one smerteth sore.

    Again (T. and C. 2. 57 ff.), Pandare's love made his hue green many times a day, and sent him to bed in woe, where he tossed through the night.

    When he calls on Criseyde, she remarks (2. 98), “your maistresse is not here.” Shortly afterward (2. 111–2), he proposes to dance, and do some observance to May.

    Pandare's oath is (2. 234), “by the blisful Venus that I serve.”

    Troilus upbraids Pandare (4. 486–490); cf. Filost. 4. 57):

    Why hastow not don bisily thy might

    To chaungen hir that doth thee al thy wo?

    Why niltow lete hir fro thyn herte go?

    Why niltow love another lady swete,

    That may thyn herte setten in quiete?

    Cf. 491–2 (Filost. 4. 58. 1, 2).

  2. 2.

    2. No allusion to the appearance of Pandare suggests that he is elderly.

  3. 3.

    3. Neither Criseyde nor Troilus treats him as elderly, nor, save for the use of the term “nece,” does he treat either of them as considerably younger.

  4. 4.

    4. His interest and participation in Troilus' love-affairs is not that of an elderly person.

  5. 5.

    5. Chaucer (1. 860), following Boccaccio (2. 16. 7, 8), makes Pandare say :

    Were it for my suster, al thy sorwe,

    By my wil, she sholde al be thyn tomorwe.

    And Troilus reciprocates in similar terms (3. 409 ff.; cf. Filost. 3. 18).

  6. 6.

    6. Pandare once calls Criseyde “suster” (4. 848), following Filost. 4. 98. 1.

  7. 7.

    7. Troilus repeatedly calls Pandare “brother” (1. 773; 2.1046; 4. 541; 5. 414, 477; and cf. 5. 521), and Pandare reciprocates (2. 1359; 3. 239, 330; 5. 407, 1731; and cf. 3. 252).

    But the younger Pandare is, and the more mature Criseyde is, the less is she excusable, since the less probable is it that she is his dupe (observe how promptly she forgives him, 2. 595).

page 547 note 1 We may remember that Boccaccio, at the end of the Fourth Day of the Decameron, gives Fiammetta eyes “che parevan d'un falcon pellegrino” (cf. T. and C. 3. 1784, and that Idleness, R. de la R. 533 (Chaucer, R. R. 546),

Les yex ot plus vaire c'une faucons.