The_Use_Of_Love_In_Troilus_And_Criseyde

The Use Of Love In Troilus And Criseyde Page 1 Scholars of Chaucer agree that Latin poet Dante influenced the former’s writing of Troilus and Criseyde. As Barry Windeatt says, “Close verbal parallels are relatively few, but there a range of significant parallels in both poets’…understanding of love…which suggest how Chaucer may have had the example of the Divine Comedy in mind as he worked on his Troilus” (125-6). The extent of Dante’s influence has remained an issue of debate, especially when talking about the closing stanzas of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. What exactly do the last six stanzas of Troilus and Criseyde mean' Are they a reference to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and if so, how much of a reference are they' Was Chaucer reiterating Dante’s thoughts on love, or was he mocking them' It is my argument that the narrator of Troilus and Criseyde, while not completely condemning earthly love, ultimately agrees with Dante’s implication in the Divine Comedy that people should focus their attention on the Divine Love of Go! d instead of the earthly love of humans, because it is only through God’s Love that one can reach heaven. My claim will be supported by dividing the paper into two parts. The first part will deal with love, troilus, criseyde, narrator, divine, chaucer, fact, dante, two, because, sphere, earthly, dante’s, eighth, stanzas, hell, poem, paradise, page, heaven, god, however, story, six, one, last, doesn’t, comedy, chaucer’s, seem, place, people, final, didn’t, being, word