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franchenstein 's review for:
Troilus and Criseyde
by Geoffrey Chaucer
I know it is not fair to judge a story from times past by today's standard, nonetheless I had a place in my heart to be understanding towards medieval literature, after enjoying Marie de France's Lays, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and, especially, some of the Canterbury Tales. Because of this, and after thoroughly enjoying what I knew from Chaucer, I had higher expectations for this poem, with the introduction even claiming it to be his best work, after all it was finished!
But I was thoroughly disappointed. I might have lost some of the beauty of the original by reading it in a modern English translation, yet it was not the rhythm and texture of the text that was lacking; that part was rather enjoyable. It was the story and its characters that were hard to swallow.
First of all, Troilus is an insufferable whiny little shrimp, and Pandarus is a disgusting manipulative bastard. I'd be ok with the plot being a little thin and the focus on the characters if it weren't for the fact that most of this character exploration is Troilus sobbing like a little baby and Pandarus devising nastly plans to make Criseyde feel guilty if Troilus dies out of love.
Criseyde is by far the best character, and the only one who is close to having any depth as a real human, with understandable worries and pragmatic behavior in the face of her dire situations. Obviously, she is maligned as the worst woman of the world. I was glad that she left this Troilus, that wimp. Diomede is not a great character, but at least he had way more initiative with Criseyde, and I felt he was more deserving of her love.
Maybe the whole point is that this is a subtle criticism on the obnoxious behavior of this whole courtly love deal, with the senseless secrecy and putting the beloved on a pedestal. Perhaps there's a lot of interesting critiques to be made. Nevertheless, reading the book itself was far from pleasurable.
But I was thoroughly disappointed. I might have lost some of the beauty of the original by reading it in a modern English translation, yet it was not the rhythm and texture of the text that was lacking; that part was rather enjoyable. It was the story and its characters that were hard to swallow.
First of all, Troilus is an insufferable whiny little shrimp, and Pandarus is a disgusting manipulative bastard. I'd be ok with the plot being a little thin and the focus on the characters if it weren't for the fact that most of this character exploration is Troilus sobbing like a little baby and Pandarus devising nastly plans to make Criseyde feel guilty if Troilus dies out of love.
Criseyde is by far the best character, and the only one who is close to having any depth as a real human, with understandable worries and pragmatic behavior in the face of her dire situations. Obviously, she is maligned as the worst woman of the world. I was glad that she left this Troilus, that wimp. Diomede is not a great character, but at least he had way more initiative with Criseyde, and I felt he was more deserving of her love.
Maybe the whole point is that this is a subtle criticism on the obnoxious behavior of this whole courtly love deal, with the senseless secrecy and putting the beloved on a pedestal. Perhaps there's a lot of interesting critiques to be made. Nevertheless, reading the book itself was far from pleasurable.