Читать реферат по английскому: "Fortune In Troilus And Cressida Essay Research" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Fortune In Troilus And Cressida Essay, Research Paper

Lady Fortune: Friend or Foe? The face of Fortune in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde.

Lady Fortune and her wheel are two of the most enduring symbols in mankind’s history. Witness the popular game show, Wheel of Fortune. While it may seem silly, it proves that something of this concept has stayed with in our psyche, even today. The question of fortune is paramount is Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer gives the reader characters with completely conflicting ideas of Lady Fortune and her affect on their lives. By examining Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, the reader can hope to find an answer for these differing views on fortune. Firstly, Boethius’s influence on Chaucer and the persona of Fortune that he presents must be examined. Once this is established as a benchmark, the reader can fully understand the misconceptions Troilus has regarding fortune. Troilus clings, as Boethius does in his Consolation of Philosophy, to the memory of his faithful service to Fortune. Finally, the character of Pandarus must be addressed. He, of all Chaucer’s characters, has a firm grip on the reality of the Lady Fortune and her ever-changing nature. In fact, a close examination of the text of Troilus and Criseyde will show that Chaucer gives Pandarus a very similar role to that of Lady Philosophy in The Consolation of Philosophy.

Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius’s work deals with the universal experience of suffering. He finds himself imprisoned and under threat of execution. As Boethius begins to expound his sorrows and blame “fickle Fortune” (p. 35), he finds himself comforted by none other than Lady Philosophy. Their discussion is presented at length for the reader to pass judgment on. The section particularly confronting Boethius’s misconceptions of Fortune and is of interest to this argument is found mainly in Book II. Lady Philosophy points out to Boethius exactly what the root of his problem is at the beginning of this section. “You are wasting away in pining and longing for your former good fortune,” she tells him (p.54). This is because he has forgotten the true nature of Fortune. Once he comes to an understanding of Fortune and how she works as an instrument of God, he will be healed of his sickness of depression.

Boethius then moves the conversation to a face to face discussion with Fortune. B.L. Jefferson, in his book Chaucer and the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius, claims that “Boethius was the first to visualize Fortune in this most personal way” (p. 49). Boethius’s discussion about fortune makes three different points. Firstly, that change is the very nature of Fortune. This mutability is pointed out by Lady Philosophy, “Change is her normal behavior, her true nature…You have discovered the changing faces of the random goddess,” she tells Boethius (Consolation, p. 55). No man can stop her wheel from turning; it goes against Fortune’s very nature to do so. She can turn her face away from a man as quickly as she turns it to him. Jefferson characterizes the argument in this way, “Absolutely without sympathy, [Fortune] cares no more for one man than another” (50).

Next comes the defense of Fortune by herself. Her argument is simple: I have only taken back what was mine in the first place. “Inconstancy is my very essence,” she says, “it is the game I never cease to play as I turn my wheel in its ever changing circle, filled with joy as I bring the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top. Yes, rise up on my wheel if you like, but don’t count it an injury when by the same token you begin to fall, as the rules of the game will require” (Consolation, p. 57). Boethius has no grounds for his complaints because everything he has ever had was given to him by Fortune. If she decides to take it back, it is her prerogative. This should not send him to the pits of despair. “Indeed, my very mutability gives you just cause to hope for better things,” Fortune tells Boethius (58). Just as the wheel has borne him down, so can it bear him back up to better things.

Lastly, Lady Philosophy instructs Boethius in Fortune’s deeper significance, as a servant of God. Jefferson again, “Of a connection with Providence, Fortune herself does not seem to be aware, for she works blindly and wantonly. But behind her and governing her, is the all-wise Providence. Through the adversities of Fortune, Providence creates in men what we now call character…. In Fortune [Boethius] saw the instrument of God” (50). This made what Boethius was doing a very serious matter. It was all very nice to talk about the whims of fortune, but to tie it logically and directly to the providence of God was a completely different matter.

Boethius’s Influence on Chaucer

It is from these points of argument with Fortune that we can see how Boethius influenced Chaucer, especially in Troilus and Criseyde. Most of the literature on Troilus seems to support this claim as well. “The Boethian theme of Fortune dominates Troilus and Criseyde, and Chaucer even incorporates direct borrowings from the Consolation of Philosophy,” says Martin Camargo (214). Jefferson says that the Consolation had more influence on Troilus than on any other long poem of Chaucer’s (120). It seems, however, that Chaucer did not just use Boethius randomly in this text. He very carefully dealt with the same fundamental issues of Fortune and God’s providence that Boethius did in his Consolation.

That is why Pandarus sounds just like Lady Philosophy when he speaks to Troilus in Book 1:

“Than blaestow Fortune

For thow art wroth; ye now at erst I see.

Woost thow nat wel that Fortune is comune

To everi manere wight in som degree?

And yet thow hast this comfort, lo, parde,

That, as hire joies

Похожие работы