{"id":18955,"date":"2017-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=678"},"modified":"2017-07-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T00:00:00","slug":"the-allegory-of-troilus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Allegory of Troilus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

T<\/span>roilus appears in the Iliad<\/em> and Aeneid<\/em>, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don\u2019t tell the story of his tragic love for\u00a0Criseyde or Cressida. Characteristically enough, the love story became the main Troilus legend during the middle ages, first recounted by Benoit\u2019s Roman of Troie<\/em>, who tells of Troilus\u2019s love for Briseis, Achilles\u2019s war bride. Boccaccio changed Briseis to Cressida, and Chaucer and Shakespeare followed his lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Chaucer\u2019s telling, Troilus renounces and mocks love at the beginning of the poem, but love has its revenge. He becomes a devout devotee of the god of love. Pandarus teaches him the laws of love, and his experience is a caricature of a courtly lover. His experience is very close to that of the dreamer in <\/em>The\u00a0Romance of the Rose<\/em><\/a><\/em>, though Chaucer displays typical psychological \u201crealism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics often puzzle over Cressida\/Criseyde\u2019s behavior. Why does she wait so long to accept Troilus, and why does she so immediately turn from him? C. S. Lewis says her love is overwhelmed by fear, which proves the stronger passion. Her fear of being left to herself leads to her accept the first male who offers his protection, the Greek Diomedes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps, though,\u00a0we\u2019re modernizing Chaucer. Perhaps he\u2019s as allegorical as other medievals. He closes his poem on a moralizing note, with a recommendation that his readers, especially his younger ones, take warning from the story and devote themselves to divine<\/em>, rather than temporal and carnal, love. It seems a tacked-on bow to convention, like the Parson\u2019s sermon at the end of <\/em>The Canterbury Tales<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, the contrast of divine and human love is written into the fabric of the poem.\u00a0Pandarus himself raises the issue in an early discussion with Criseyde, when he claims that everyone, man and woman, has a tendency toward love of one kind or another, whether celestial or earthly.\u00a0The central scene of the book raises this issue in a graphic way, by describing the love-making of Troilus and Criseyde as a touch or taste of heavenly bliss. It\u2019s a moment of religious as well as sexual ecstasy.\u00a0The entire poem is arranged around this scene, as Barry\u00a0Windeatt explains in his edition of the poem<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

A. Prayer
B. Smile
C. Reference to Lollius (Boccaccio\u2019s creation)
D. Dream
E. Letters
F. Venus
G. Hymn to Love
H. Consummation
G\u2019. Hymn to Love
F\u2019. Venus
E\u2019. Letters
D\u2019. Dream
C\u2019. Reference to Lollius\u00a0
B\u2019. Laughter
A\u2019. Prayer\u00a0<\/p>\n

The consummation is the exact center of the poem, at the central line. In line 4120 of 8239, Troilus says that he is at a \u201chigh place\u201d because of the god of love (2.1271). Troilus\u2019s story is driven by fortune\u2019s wheel. At the center of the poem, he reaches his highest point, but we expect the wheel to take another turn and crush him underneath.\u00a0In his excitement, Troilus speaks of his sexual experience in religious terms, a connection reinforced by the references to Venus that frame the scene. Chaucer repeatedly describes\u00a0the bliss of their love, indicates that Criseyde is a heavenly creature, and treats love-making as an exploration of heaven (2.891; 3.704; 3.1204, 1322; 3.1251; 1.104; 4.864; 5.817).\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the light of Pandarus\u2019s comment and the moralistic conclusion, it seems that Chaucer wants us to see that this heaven is inferior to the real heaven, this bliss nothing like the bliss the lovers ought to seek. Other mythological references in the poem (e.g., Orpheus and Eurydice) reinforce the theme, since medievals saw these myths as cautionary tales against preferring earthly to heavenly things.<\/p>\n

This in turn might support an allegorical-tropological reading of the whole poem. For many medievals, the fall of Troy was the result of Paris\u2019s preference for Venus, the goddess of carnal love, over Juno or Athena, who represented higher and wiser forms of love. By virtue of his name, Troilus embodies the Trojan people, and hence also re-commits the Trojan error. Like Paris, Troilus chooses Venus. Venus can take him only so high, but soon enough he\u2019ll fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Chaucer\u2019s hands, Troilus and Criseyde becomes a cautionary tale against the vice of lust.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don\u2019t tell the story of his tragic love for\u00a0Criseyde or Cressida. Characteristically enough, the love story became the main Troilus legend during the middle ages, first recounted by Benoit\u2019s Roman of Troie, who tells of Troilus\u2019s love for Briseis, Achilles\u2019s war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1255,1260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaucer","category-troilus-and-creysede"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Allegory of Troilus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Allegory of Troilus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/\",\"name\":\"The Allegory of Troilus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Allegory of Troilus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Allegory of Troilus","description":"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Allegory of Troilus","og_description":"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/","name":"The Allegory of Troilus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Troilus appears in the Iliad and Aeneid, but only in death scenes. Ancient epics don't tell the story of his tragic love for Criseyde or Cressida.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/the-allegory-of-troilus\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Allegory of Troilus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}