'Feynede Loves,' Feigned Love, and Faith in Trouthe

Author / Editor
Newman, Barbara.

Title
'Feynede Loves,' Feigned Love, and Faith in Trouthe

Published
Stephen A. Barney, ed. Chaucer's Troilus: Essays in Criticism (Hamden, Conn.: Shoestring Press, 1980), pp. 257-75.

Description
The dichotomy between "trouthe" (fidelity) and truth (actuality) marks TC from the outset. "Trouthe" in love is linked to "routhe" and "kyndenesse," and on every level is compromised by the characters' feigning.
Moreover, the proverbs which are so much a part of the poem, are equivocal inasmuch as they are both prophetic and ironic. The narrator, finally disillusioned with the feigned love and lore, arrives at his own version of "trouthe."

Alternative Title
Chaucer's Troilus: Essays in Criticism.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde.