Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 2744
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Stroud , T. A.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Palinode, the Narrator, and Pandarus's Alleged Incest [The author takes on recent critical readings of the supposed "incest episode" in "Troilus and Criseyde," arguing that incest does not occur. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Chaucer Review 27, 1 ( 1992): Pages 16 - 30.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Troilus and Criseyde Criseyde (Literary Figure) Incest in Literature Literature- Verse Narrator Pandarus (Literary Figure)
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 14
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: The palinode at the end of "Troilus and Criseyde" has always puzzled critics. The narrator's depiction of Troilus's end draws attention to two possible ways of interpreting the plot, either as "pathetic romance" or as an allegorical "Boethian quest" (18). Identification of the repudiation of earthly love as a palinode allows critics to examine the charge that Pandarus committed incest. Though medieval writers treated unwedded sex as sin, Gower treats incest as a sin in "Confessio amantis;" neither Boccaccio, Dante, Ovid, nor any of the French fabliau treat incest. Though Pandarus does act as a go-between, he merely asks Criseyde to forgive him the next morning [Reproduced by permission of Peter G. Beidler and Martha A. Kalnin Diede, editors of "The Chaucer Review: An Indexed Bibliography."].
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Drake University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1992.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00092002