The Boethian God and the Audience of the 'Troilus'

Author / Editor
apRoberts, Robert P.

Title
The Boethian God and the Audience of the 'Troilus'

Published
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 69 (1970): 425-36.

Description
Regards Criseyde's departure from Troy in TC as a "fated event," while it is a matter of fortune in Boccaccio's "Filostrato." Shows how Chaucer adjusts his source, increases the dramatic irony of the plot, and gives to his readers a perspective that is like that of the Boethian God, knowing how the actions of all of the characters (especially Calchas, Troilus, and Criseyde) necessarily, freely, and unknowingly lead to Criseyde's departure, Antenor's return, the failure of worldly love, and the fall of Troy--all matters of conditional necessity.

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