Understanding the Apotheosis: Troilus's Love Transfigured
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Authors
Tom Walker
Issue Date
2025-04-25
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Scholarship Sewanee 2025 , University of the South, English, Literature, Medieval Poem, Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde
Alternative Title
Abstract
In this paper, I’ll argue against D.W. Robertson’s position that Troilus’s prayers to the God of Love are idolatrous to show that, through his love of Criseyde, Troilus begins to love the eternal goodness that is the Christian God. The epilogue of Troilus and Criseyde has been long divisive within study of the poem, but through understanding Troilus as finding God, or eternal goodness, we can explain his apotheosis in both narrative and religious terms. Troilus’s love is understood by Robertson, and many other scholars, as a selfish and objectifying love. But, this view fails to account for Troilus’s crucial decision to allow Criseyde to be taken away from Troy instead of violently reclaiming her from the Greeks, but risking her life in doing so. In this moment, Troilus allows Criseyde to be taken away instead of risking her safety so that they can be together. Through his love for Criseyde, Troilus transforms cupiditas into caritas and, in doing so, finds a love of God through his selfless love of the eternal good.
Description
Citation
Publisher
University of the South