Criseyde's statement that she lacks Prudence's third eye should be understood in the context of Augustine's theories of time and intentionality and the philosophical realism on which they draw. Her observation points up her failure to see…
Kelly, Douglas.
Kathryn Karczewska and Tom Conley, eds. The World and Its Rival: Essays on Literary Imagination in Honor of Per Nykrog. Faux titre, no. 172 (Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1999), pp. 59-77.
Examines adaptations of conventional depictions of change in literary characters--in works by Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France, and Benoît de Sainte-Maure. Contrasts the change in Benoît's Briseida with that in Chaucer's Criseyde, focusing…
Honegger, Thomas.
Andreas H. Jucker, Gerd Fritz, and Franz Lebsanft, eds. Historical Dialogue Analysis. Pragmatics and Beyond, no. 66 (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: J. Benjamins, 1999), pp. 189-214.
Examines the dawn songs (aubades) in TC and Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as elaborate versions of the linguistic category of parting or separation. Both dawn songs assert consolidation and assuage possible feelings of rejection; they also…
Hayward, Rebecca.
Cindy L. Carlson and Angela Jane Weisl, eds. Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), pp. 221-43.
Assesses Criseyde in TC and other widowed protagonists in medieval romances (Roman de Thèbes, Chértien's Yvain), exploring how "necessity of possession and ideals of chastity" are the prevailing stereotypes of the literary tradition. Unlike…
Guthrie, Steven R.
Chaucer Review 34: 150-73, 1999.
The key to the character of Pandarus lies in French domestic romances, especially their concern with privacy. Both TC and "La Chastelaine" portray lovers as vulnerable human beings who have the right to freedom from invasive forces. Pandarus's…
Knowing Boethian philosophy (as Chaucer intended his audience to do) enables the reader of TC to gain a double perspective, both inside and outside the temporal limits of the text. This position is analogous to God's position and allows one to…
Goldberg, Catherine L.
WVUPP 44: 34-41, 1998, 1999.
In TC, the layering of sources, authors, characters, and language produces a text that "seeks consciously to exist in the present each time it is read." The complex acts of memory among the characters suggest that time is chaotic, yet a "kind of…
Gertz, SunHee Kim.
Papers on Language and Literature 35: 141-65, 1999.
Examines how Chaucer manipulates the conventions of the "descriptio" in TC, arguing that he capitalizes on its metaliterary potential. Chaucer gives texture to the descriptio of Criseyde by spreading it throughout several portions of the narrative.…
Teaching in the humanities should entail continual reconstituting of relevance. Detailed analysis of the portraits of Briseis/Criseyde in the "Roman de Troie," TC, and the "Testament of Cresseid"--even apart from the long works in which they…
TC may usefully be regarded as a utopian fiction that attempts to repress undesirable historical events by situating itself at a time before those events, thus opening up a moment of freedom in which the hope for a different, better future is…
Edwards, Robert R.
Studies in Philology 96: 394-416. , 1999.
Discusses the exegetical tradition of the passage in Lamentations that lies behind TC 5.540-53, linking Boccaccio, Dante, and Chaucer with that tradition.
Chaucer's rhyming of "sike" with "endite" (TC 2.884 and 2.886) is likely a scribal mistake."Lite" is more consistent with Chaucer's linguistic habits and forms a perfect rhyme. In line 2.936, "yeden" is placed to rhyme with "dede," while an…
DeZur, Kathryn Michelle.
Dissertation Abstracts International 60: 414A, 1999.
Analyzes the relationships of "interpretation, authority, and female sexuality" in works by Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Sidney. TC and WBPT contrast a lady seduced by her reading with a woman empowered by hers.
Cannon Christopher.
Barbara A. Hanawalt and David Wallace, eds. Medieval Crime and Social Control (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), pp. 156-85.
Legal records reflect the struggles of medieval women to gain legal (and verbal) representation. A similar struggle is evident in the court case of Lady Meed of Piers Plowman, as well as in Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Love, The Book of Margery…
Bradbury, Nancy Mason.
Rosalind Field, ed. Tradition and Transformation in Medieval Romance (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999), pp. 115-24.
Argues that Chaucer's reception of native romance in TC is more positive and artistically significant than has been previously recognized. After examining the elements of metrical romance in Th and arguing that it parodies one extreme of Chaucer's…
Epstein, Robert.
Studies in Philology 96: 1-21, 1999.
Compares Scog and Henry Scogan's "Moral Ballade," arguing that the two works reflect aspects of Ricardian and Lancastrian culture, respectively--Chaucer serves in a "benignly neglectful court culture," and Scogan heralds an "age of politicized…
Watanabe, Seiji.
Hisayuki Sasamoto et al., eds. Hearts to the English-American Language and Literature: Essays Presented to Emeritus Professor Sutezo Hirose in Honour of His 88th Birthday (Osaka: Osaka Kyoiku Tosho, 1999), pp. 525-43 (in Japanese).
Although Chaucer does not divert from the pattern of Troilus's tragic fall from the top of the wheel of fortune, he employs ironic twists and ambiguities that diffuse the rigidity of the tale. The transitions in TC subvert attention from rigid…
Troilus's "double sorrow" is actually a triple sorrow caused by Criseyde's betrayal; the inability of Pandarus, his intercessor, to bring Criseyde back; and the failure of the goddess Venus to reunite him with Criseyde.
O'Callaghan, Tamara Faith.
Dissertation Abstracts International 59: 2014A, 1998.
These works use the language and motifs of love to distinguish gendered passion. In particular, the diction and imagery of love associated with Criseyde in TC show her, unlike the male characters, to be motivated more by fear and a sense of honor…
Compares Chaucer's and Boccaccio's treatments of Troilus's looking at Criseyde in the temple. Governed by the laws of medieval optics, Troilus's gaze imprints Criseyde's image in his heart. In the image of the mirror, Chaucer portrays Troilus's…
The ending of TC is unified with the rest of the poem. Its abrupt shift from pagan setting to Christian message is a structural imitation of the Boethian distinction between temporality and eternity.
Jimura, Akiyuki.
Jacek Fisiak and Akio Oizumi, eds. English Historical Linguistics and Philology in Japan (Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1998), pp. 91-110
A revised, abridged version of three previous essays: see SAC 17 (1995), no. 257 (Parts I and II), and SAC 19 (1997), no. 306 (Part III).
