Criseyde's Chances: Courtly Love and Ethics About to Come

Author / Editor
Mitchell, J. Allan.

Title
Criseyde's Chances: Courtly Love and Ethics About to Come

Published
Ann W. Astell and J. A. Jackson, eds. Levinas and Medieval Literature: The "Difficult Reading" of English and Rabbinic Texts (Pittsburgh, Penn.: Duquesne University Press, 2009), pp. 185-206.

Description
Reads courtly love in TC through a Levinasian lens: courtly desire is ethical because it is never satisfied. Yet, Criseyde's case disallows a direct application of Levinasian ethical theory. Mitchell comments on the role of fortune in TC, the exchange of Criseyde, and the possibility of her becoming a moral subject. Also comments on gender differences in relation to the question of ethics and erotic love in TC.

Alternative Title
Levinas and Medieval Literature: The "Difficult Reading" of English and Rabbinic Texts.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde.