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The Central Episode in Chaucer's Torilus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
In the last twenty years or so the rehabilitation of Criseyde has proceeded triumphantly until she seems nearly reinstated as the figure she was before her denigration at the hands of Henryson and the Elizabethans. The contrast, for example, between the treatments given her by A. S. Cook in the early years of the century and by her most recent appraisor, John Bayley, shows how far this reinstatement has gone. But despite the apparent victory, here and there remain strong points, untaken pockets of resistance left behind by the victorious forces in their onward sweep, where the views of the old orthodoxy still prevail and from which a counterattack could be mounted. The most important of these is, I believe, the still prevailing misconception of the central episode leading to Criseyde's surrender. Baldly stated, the orthodox belief is this: that Criseyde went to Pandarus' house expecting to surrender herself then and there to Troilus. The process of arriving at this belief is usually simple. Examining the episode at Deiphebus' house, the critic argues, first, that Criseyde knows surrender to be the ultimate outcome of her acceptance of Troilus as a lover; second, that she must understand surrender as the purpose of the meeting which Pandarus promises to arrange. Next, the critic notes that Criseyde did expect to find her lover at her uncle's house when Pandarus finally invited her for the evening; he then hurdles over some six hundred of the most minutely subtle lines Chaucer ever wrote and arrives at the surrender itself; and he clinches his belief by quoting his favorite and eagerly anticipated passage:
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References
1 “The Character of Criseyde,” PMLA, xxii (1907), pp. 531–547.
2 The Characters of Love (New York, 1961).
3 All quotations are from The Book of Troilus and Criseyde, ed. R. K. Root (Princeton, 1926).
4 W. G. Dodd, Courtly Love in Chaucer and Gower (Boston, 1913), pp. 167–172; G. L. Kittredge, Chaucer and His Poetry (Cambridge, 1915), p. 132; H. M. Cummings, The Indebtedness of Chaucer's Works to the Italian Works of Boccaccio, Univ. of Cincinnati Studies, x (1916), pp. 104–106; R. K. Root, The Poetry of Chaucer: A Guide to Its Study and Appreciation (Cambridge, 1922), pp. 87–127; E. de Selincourt, Oxford Lectures on Poetry (Oxford, 1934), pp. 69–70; H. R. Patch, On Rereading Chaucer (Cambridge, 1939), pp. 74–83; Thomas A. Kirby, Chaucer's Troilus: A Study in Courtly Love (Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1940), pp. 203–210; P. V. D. Shelly, The Living Chaucer (Philadelphia, 1940), pp. 119–121; D. W. Robertson, Jr., “Chaucerian Tragedy,” ELH, xix 1–37; see pp. 24–27. To a certain extent the orthodox view is subscribed to by A. Mizener, “Character and Action in the Case of Criseyde,” PMLA, liv (1939), 65–81; see pp. 73–74 and my n. 9 below.
5 Chaucer clearly shows us that this is the point of view to be taken in the poem. After carefully explaining that Criseyde, watching Troilus ride by, “gan enclyne to like hym first,” he summarizes the whole progress of the love affair still to come:
And after that, his manhod and his pyne
Made love withinne hire for to myne;
For which, by proces and by good servyse,
He gat hire love, and in no sodeyn wyse.
(ii.676–679)
See also Criseyde's own account of the course of love, iii.988–994.
6 Dodd, op. cit., p. 171. Root interprets Criseyde's acceptance in much the same way as Dodd when he says that, at Deiphebus' house, Criseyde “there promises her ultimate surrender” (The Book of Troilus and Criseyde, p. xxix).
7 Before she will consent to promise anything to Troilus, Criseyde demands that Troilus state precisely what he desires her to do (iii.124–126). This demand, coupled with her reply to Troilus' request, shows clearly that Criseyde wishes to have no misunderstanding as to what her acceptance involves (note the manner in which she replies, iii.155–158). She makes it quite obvious that she is in no way bound to surrender by her agreement to grant Troilus' request, for both the request and her acceptance leave the power to surrender in her own hands.
8 The Poetry of Chaucer, p. 110.
9 Chaucer's Troilus, pp. 206–207. Mizener also subscribes to the views of Root and Kirby. He says, referring to iii.155–182, that Pandarus and Troilus understand fully the meaning and magnitude of Criseyde's decision (op. cit., p. 73) and in a note quotes Kittredge's statement, “Her surrender is conscious and voluntary; for she is neither ignorant nor unsophisticated” (ibid. n. 37). Because he believes Criseyde has already agreed to surrender, Mizener then argues that “As a question of character there is no necessity for Pandarus' elaborate scheme for bringing Troilus and Criseyde together” (ibid. p. 74).
10 Ibid., p. 207.
11 iii.239–343. Speaking of Criseyde's acceptance of Troilus as her lover, Mizener says: “Certainly there was no question in the minds of Pandarus and Troilus of Criseyde's meaning or of the magnitude of her decision” (op. cit., p. 73). And Root says: “This is complete surrender and Pandarus recognizes it as such” (The Poetry of Chaucer, p. 110). It is my suspicion that these scholars must have in mind Pandarus' speech to Troilus and Troilus' reply (iii.239–420). Speaking of Criseyde's stipulation that she shall have dominion, Meech says, “The quid pro quo of such dominion, though admitted by neither party to the agreement, is, of course, an ultimate sensual reward. The witness Pandarus assures his friend, as soon as they are in private, ‘That al shal ben right as thi selven liste’ and implies that consummation is not far off:
Thow woost ek what thi lady granted the,
And day is set the Chartres up to make.“
(Design in Chaucer's Troilus, Syracuse Univ. Press, 1959, p. 284).
12 See notes to l. 340 in The Book of Troilus and Criseyde, ed. R. K. Root, p. 469, and in The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, ed. F. N. Robinson (Boston, 1957), p. 824.
13 I believe the phrase means no more than “the time when you will achieve your desire” and is quite comparable to the current phrase “lucky day” or perhaps more closely, to the similar phrase in the saying “Every dog has his day.”
14 See the testimony of Criseyde as to the impression this service has made, iii.991–998.
15 There are numerous other touches throughout the passage which indicate that it is only a brief summary of the events which took place.
16 Fear for her honor and dread of trusting it to anyone play a large part in Criseyde's actions. This is well shown in Chaucer's description of Criseyde's state of mind after she receives Troilus in her arms:
Criseyde, al quyt from every drede and tene,
As she that juste cause hadde hym to triste,
Made hym swich feste, it joye was to sene,
Whan she his trouthe and clene entente wiste.
(iii.1226–29)
17 In the Prohemium to Book I, Chaucer invokes successful lovers to pray for those whom Love has not yet brought “in hevene to solas” by asking them to remember “passed hevynesse,” and he bids them,
thynketh how that ye
Han felt that love dorste yow displese
Or ye han wonne hym with to grete an ese.
(i.26–27)
The implication is unmistakable that love has value in proportion to the hardship with which it is gained. Hence, it follows that a lady has value in proportion to the difficulty with which she is won. See also Pandarus' “sentence,” ii.1391–93.
18 See also iii.587–588.
19 On Rereading Chaucer, p. 79. See also an earlier article by the same author, “Chaucer and Lady Fortune,” MLR, xxii (1927), 377–388, particularly p. 384.
20 The earlier mention occurs at iii.562. It is barely possible that in the passage quoted above from On Rereading Chaucer Patch means that Criseyde was almost deterred not by the rain itself but by an anticipation of rain, and that when he says she went to Pandarus' house “in spite of the downpour” he means that she went in spite of an anticipation of the downpour. For earlier he states that when Pandarus makes his invitation “Criseyde at once suggests that it is going to rain and is doubtful about going” (p. 78; the italics are mine). Criseyde's words are, “it reyneth; lo how sholde I gon?' (iii.562). The form ”reyneth“ may here be an instance of the present used for the future, but there is no evidence to show that it is—it may just as well be the simple present. However, even if it is the future, it is still manifestly impossible for Criseyde to foresee the supranatural torrent. Patch's earlier article (cited above, n. 19) does not shed further light on his precise interpretation of the line in question.
21 PMLA, xlv (1930), 129–168.
22 Patch has replied to Curry's article quite effectively, I believe, though on grounds different from those used in this paper. See his article “Troilus on Determinism,” Speculum, vi (1931), 225–243 (reprinted in On Rereading Chaucer, pp. 104–122). For another reply see Robert D. Mayo, “The Trojan Background of the Troilus,” ELH, ix (1942), 245–256.
23 Some overenthusiastic reader might be tempted at this point to argue that Pandarus had foreseen the conjunction of the stars and had laid his plans counting on the rain. But this would be making Pandarus into a professional astrologer. He was not another Calchas. It is true that Pandarus counted upon rain on the night of the surrender (see iii.549–551), but it is manifestly impossible that he could foresee the supranatural rain. What plan he intended to use to persuade Criseyde to stay is never revealed, for the storm serves his purpose. At the point where the rain occurs, the reader does not know Pandarus' plan fully and so he does not see the full necessity for the rain. The reader has no feeling that Pandarus has banked upon the supranatural. He knows that Pandarus intends to get Criseyde to stay the night, but he does not, after the rain has secured this end, insist upon an answer to the question “How did Pandarus plan to get Criseyde to stay?” Very probably the question does not even occur to him.
24 As a partial explanation of why Criseyde “gan enclyne to like” Troilus first, Chaucer tells us:
And also blisful Venus, wel arrayed,
Sat in hire seventhe hous of hevene tho,
Disposed wel, and with aspectes payed,
To helpen sely Troilus of his woo.
(ii.680–683)
Chaucer goes on to say that Troilus was helped in winning Criseyde by the influence of an astrologically beneficial Venus:
And, soth to seyn, she nas not al a foo
To Troilus in his nativitee;
God woot that wel the sonner spedde he
(ii.684–686)
The phrase “God woot” means little more than “certain it is,” but it does happen that God alone does know in what way the favorable aspect of Venus aided Troilus. The reader is never told.
25 We should note that as soon as Pandarus learned that Criseyde was Troilus' “swete fo” he knew precisely the nature of the struggle that would be involved in winning her. He tells Troilus to be glad because, since Criseyde is virtuous,
' … there is som pitee
Amonges alle thise other [virtues] in general…. '
(i.899–900)
Pandarus aims his whole campaign at Criseyde's pity. Chaucer clearly conceives the action of the love affair in terms of a struggle between Criseyde's pity, with other allies, and the value she places on her honor. See also Criseyde's own account of how she came to have mercy on Troilus, iii.988–994.
26 Note Chaucer's own description of Criseyde's state of mind, iii.918–924.
27 We may note how Chaucer gives additional emphasis to the value which Criseyde places on her honor by having her exact oaths from Troilus safeguarding it after he is in her bed, iii.1142–45. See also the pledge of loyalty which Troilus later gives of his own accord, iii.1296–1302, and Criseyde's reply, iii.1303–05.
28 Root, The Poetry of Chaucer, p. 111.
29 The action leading to the meeting at Deiphebus' house is arranged on precisely the same principle as the action leading to the surrender: it is designed so that Criseyde's desire to take Troilus as a lover receives the least possible emphasis. Chaucer shows most carefully that Criseyde has no part whatsoever in bringing about the meeting (see ii.1561, 1562, 1723.)
30 Cummings, The Indebtedness of Chaucer's Works to the Italian Works of Boccaccio, p. 104; Kirby, Chaucer's Troilus, p. 204. In Benoit, Criseida is a maid. Boccaccio makes Criseida a widow who has no children because she is not able to bear them (i.15). Chaucer leaves Criseyde a widow, but where Boccaccio says Criseida was barren, Chaucer says
But wheither that she children hadde or noon, I rede it nat, therfore I late it goon. (i.132–133)
In terms of his story, Boccaccio's change of the heroine from a maid to a widow is necessary because he wishes Criseida's surrender to be clearly motivated by sensual desire. Obviously the reader will find the appearance of such desire more plausible in a widow than in a maid (see Pandaro's remarks to Troilo, ii.27, and Criseida's remarks to Pandaro, ii.55 and 66, and her reflections, ii.72 and 74). Boccaccio's statement that Criseida has no children answers a question which might naturally occur to the reader when he learns that Criseida is a widow, and her sterility might well seem to the reader to fit her peculiarly for engaging in an illicit love affair.
On the one hand Chaucer avoids, as Boccaccio did, complicating the story with a husband, and, on the other, presenting Criseyde as an innocent girl who was seduced. At the same time, by his arrangement of the story, he stresses the reader's impression of the value she places upon her honor and of her lack of sensuality, for she values her honor as highly as a maid. Though she has known the delights of marriage, she does not engage in love from mere desire to satisfy physical appetite. Chaucer's professed ignorance about Criseyde's children, if any, is very baffling—as he often delights to be. At any rate he does dismiss children from a story in which their presence would be clearly undesirable. At the same time he manages not to follow the example of Boccaccio who suggests that his heroine is a woman suited in a peculiar way for an amour (cf. also Filostrato, ii.69 and contrast with Troilus, ii.750–753). For a discussion of Chaucer's change in the matter of childlessness, see K. Young, “Aspects of the Story of Troilus and Criseyde,” Univ. of Wis. Stud, in Lang, and Lit., No. 2 (Madison, 1918), pp. 367–394, especially pp. 388–390.
31 It is pity in the lady that gives the Courtly Lover hope of securing favors which he feels are not merited by his own worth (see Troilus' words, iii.1266–67 and 1282–88). At the outset, Pandarus clearly recognizes that it is to pity in Criseyde that Troilus must look for hope (see n. 27 above).
32 Reference might also be made to an article by J. S. Graydon, “Defense of Criseyde” (PMLA, xliv (1929), 141–177) in which he endeavors to lay the blame for Criseyde's infidelity upon Troilus. The article is, however, so obviously a case of special pleading that we need not concern ourselves with it here beyond noting that it received its quietus, if that were needed, at the hands of J. M. Beatty, Jr. in “Mr. Graydon's ‘Defense of Criseyde’,” SP, xxvi (1929), 470–481, and of J. M. French in “A Defense of Troilus,” PMLA, xliv (1929), 1246–51.
33 On Rereading Chaucer, p. 89.
34 See her own statement, iv. 1660–82 and the narrator's comments, iv.1415–21; v.20–21.
35 “The People in Chaucer's Troilus,” PMLA, lvi (1941), 85–104, pp. 91–94.
36 See i.485–546 for the description of Troilus' state and iii.360–364 for a later reference to this state when his love is prospering and he cannot be accused of exaggerating his symptoms because of immediate pain.
37 See Chaucer's description of Troilus' state of mind, iii.1065–92, and note the religious intensity of the emotions with which Troilus has entered Criseyde's room, iii.705–735.
38 See the narrator's comment, v.1637–38.
39 See i.551–556 with the narrator's comment, 516–567, 617–618, 730–735, 792, 1023–28; iii.736–742, 1098–99, to mention only those passages which occur before the surrender.
40 See i.841–854; iii.1625–38;iv.384–385, 391–392, 1098–99.
41 “… Pandarus' practical views of life are everywhere opposed to the enthusiasm of Troilus, just as Sancho Panza forms the contrast to Don Quijote, and Jean de Meung to Guillaume de Lorris; they help us pleasantly over the one-sidedness of an idealism which ignores the world, and free us from the oppressive feeling with which we are satiated by the spectacle of a self-consuming passion” (Bernhard Ten Brink, History of English Literature, trans. W. C. Robinson, New York, 1893, n, Part I, p. 94).
42 Cf. Troilus' remark, iii.705–708, and Pandarus' reply, iii.709–711.
43 See Criseyde's description of the nature of Troilus' love as it has impressed her, iv.1667–78.