Between the Living and the Dead : Widows as Heroines of Medieval Romances

Author / Editor
Hayward, Rebecca.

Title
Between the Living and the Dead : Widows as Heroines of Medieval Romances

Published
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.

Description
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 Boccaccio's Criseida, Chaucer's Criseyde escapes these stereotypes.

Alternative Title
Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages.

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