The Character of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde Sara Manlowe College

In Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Criseyde’s character is something of a paradox, for while the reader is able to see a great deal of her thoughts, her character itself remain somewhat ambiguous, capable of being interpreted in multiple directions. When the reader first meets her, ’[Criseyde] lives in [Troy], alone: her husband is dead, her father self-banished: her only natural protector, whom she ‘wolde han trusted’ to have rebuked her without ‘mercy ne mesure’ at any suspected frailty, in on her lover’s side, and working upon her by appeals to her curiosity, her pity and her natural passions, as well as by direct lying and trickery’ (Lewis, 183). Criseyde’s position in society is precarious from the beginning, thanks to her father’s actions and her widowhood; she does not have a solid base upon which to stand. In this way her presentation matches her character, as the reader encounters her through the lenses of her both her thoughts and her words, and then by her actions, as she is presented through different angles, alternately calculating, playful, clever, and fearful. Given the more original title, The Book of Troilus, the narrator speaks only of the tragedy of Troilus – we never hear of the tragedy of Criseyde, for of...