The Fabrications of Pandarus

Description: Just as TC is "distanced" from the reader by its setting during the Trojan War, so too does Pandarus blur the lines between reality and fiction. The "real" world is an illusion; the little world of the lovers is all that is real. Ironically, Pandarus' fabrications turn out to be true--e.g., the invention of the fictional rival Horaste forces the guiltless heroine to defend herself against a charge that will soon enough be true, when she falls into Diomede's hands.; There is a feeling that Pandarus' lies--like the poem itself and like God's own creation--are transitory but nonetheless alluring and delightful.