'La Celestina' and Chaucer's 'Troilus': A Comparative Study

Description: Chaucer and Rojas shared common sources and concerns, and their works are most alike in their use of sophisticated dialogue, but Rojas' vision is more destructive. Troilus and Calistro are both "courtly" lovers, but Calistro is a debased version of Chaucer's hero. Whereas the ambiguities in Criseyde's character create a "chiaroscuro," in Melibea's they become antitheses; and while Chaucer forgives Criseyde's infidelity, Rojas allows us to suspect the worst of Melibea.; The go-between in each succumbs to the fate he or she arranges, but unlike Pandarus, who incarnates a valid pragmatism, Celestina demonstrates the very negation of meaning. The authorial voices, Parmeno and Plebario, pay more dearly for the lovers' passion than their counterpart in TC, who merely feels a "double sorwe."

Chaucer Subjects: Troilus and Criseyde.; Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.