The Heroine in the Works of Chaucer

Geoffrery Chaucer wrote some of the most interesting and evocative literature that came out of the middle ages. From his works in The Canterbury Tales to Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer has challenged convention and rewritten old formulas and stereotypes as a part of his mission to redefine stock characters and literary trends. Chaucer was acutely aware of the effect a work might have upon his audience and made an effort to influence and alter the accepted norms both in literature and in society. Perfect examples of his mission can be found in Sir Thopas and The Wife of Bath's Tale, both of which go against the stereotype for the characters, present the characters, and the society they represent, in an entirely new light. Another of Chaucer's works, Troilus and Criseyde, works specifically to redefine the heroine through Toilus' love-interest, Criseyde, in an effort to alter society's preconceptions about women. Women in medieval romance were presented as objects and were often stereotyped into certain roles (i.e. maiden, wife mother), but Chaucer rejects that kind of simplistic categorizing. As Jill Mann writes in her book Feminizing Chaucer, "Male heroes are...few and far between in Chaucer," (Mann 618) because he displayed a strong drive to give women a dominant and respectable position in his work. His character of Criseyde is one of his most complex examples of a female character because she goes against the traditional stereotypes of a woman and heroine. Chaucer allows his audience to understand and sympathize with her as an independent, intelligent individual, and
thus challenges the accepted role of women in literature and society.

The most prominent characters in romances are typically men. Titles such as Yvain, Perceval, and Sir Launfal indicate male-dominated stories by including men in the title. Women are supporting characters and the objects of love. The heroine has a very specific role as the love interest for the hero, and was often portrayed as the pinnacle of the feminine ideal. As Eileen Power states in her book, Medieval Women, "The lady of chivalry was indeed a beautiful, artificial figure, but never perhaps...the figure of a real person." She was "the adored one" (Power 35) and "the object of all worship that had but to command and she was obeyed" (Power 35). The key term here is object, not person, as though they were bound for a certain use rather than valuable in themselves. Women were to serve the image of their sex rather than act as an individual. Chaucer "vividly realizes one of the special burdens that women have to bear: the knowledge that they cannot escape the burden of meaning. Whether good or bad, their actions will always be interpreted by reference to a model of 'woman,'" (Mann 608). Even today, women risk having their actions reflect poorly on "women" as a whole because women were for so long seen as a group, relatively indistinct from one another. Criseyde is expected to live up to this same model when she meets Troilus, but Chaucer doesn't let her. Instead, Chaucer shows her as a unique figure, independent of both women and
men, who feels like a real person living in real circumstances, which is quite opposite from the traditionally idealized world of romance.

Simply reading the title, Troilus and Criseyde, it is apparent that Chaucer's tale is something different because he mentions the heroine's name directly in the title. Chaucer introduces Criseyde much like a typical heroine would be introduced, "Nas non so fair, forpassynge every wight, / So aungelik was hir natif beaute, / That lik a thing inmortal semed she," (I.101-3). Chaucer doesn't stop with the simple, traditional description of a heroine, but also notes that she stands alone, "With full assured lokyng and manere," (I.182). Criseyde is not only beautiful, but also confident, an uncommon characteristic to attribute to a woman, and especially a woman alone. We are familiar with the beautiful heroine, such as Laudine in Yvain, but like that mourning widow, the heroine tends to be some kind of "damsel in distress" who needs a knight's help. Criseyde stands strong despite being in danger, so Chaucer immediately gives us an image of a new kind of woman and a new insight into the definition of womankind. Chaucer also sparks our interest and makes us curious to know Criseyde and understand the person behind her
solitary confidence. In Criseyde, Chaucer gives his audience a reason to look beyond the object and find the person that hides behind.

Criseyde stands alone and independent because she is a widow. Women, for a large portion of their life, depended on men for their livelihood. Marriage was the most important moment in a woman's life but was often not the woman's decision (Ward 11). A marriage was more of a lengthy business transaction than a love affair, and was often in the hands of the parents, who controlled the dowry (Ward 11). Widows, particularly wealthy ones, were allowed a more independent standing in society because their inheritance allowed them a certain level of self-sufficiency. Henrietta Leyser, in her book Medieval Women, emphasizes the importance of the dower. "'At the church door'...a man was to endow his wife with her dower...of specifically named property...or...a third of her husband's holding on the day of marriage," (Leyser 168). Widows, like Criseyde, were left with the means to support themselves alone, rather than having to rely on a man, and Criseyde, embraces the independence and freedom that few women were allowed. As she debates her love for Triolus, she thinks

"I am myn owene woman, wel at ese-
I thank it God-as after myn estat,
Right yong, and stoned unteyd in lusty leese,
Withouten jalousie or swich debat:
Shal noon housbonde seyn to me 'Chek mat!'
For either they ben ful of jalousie,
Or maisterfull, or loven novelrie." (Chaucer II.750-56)

She emphasizes that she is "myn owene" and is "unteyd," because a woman often wasn't her own person, but the property of someone else. Jennifer Ward describes in her book, Women in England in the Middle Ages, "The woman's identity in the eyes of the church and the law was for most if not all of her life bound up with that of her father and husband," (4). A married woman was tied to her husband, and forced to rely on him for everything. Still, audiences expected women to want to be with a man because that was often their function in romance. Audiences were accustomed to reading about women like Laudine, also a widow, who lamented her dead husband until she moved on to love another man. Laudine remains tied to a man, either emotionally or legally, and never fully embraces her independence. By creating an independent female character, Chaucer shows women not as an extension of men, but strong in their own right and capable and willing to survive on their own.

Because few writers understood the female mind, women in romances tend to make simple, rash decisions rather than reasoning things through. In the Middle Ages, religion and science explained why women were less rational than men. A woman's humours made her "phlegmatic and melancholic," (Ward 2) and she was "regarded as weak, irrational and subject to temptation just as Eve in the Garden of Eden succumbed to the serpent's wiles," (Ward 3). Based on these supposed facts, medieval romances portray women who act from their hearts rather than heads. Chaucer's character of Criseyde, contrary to the norm, thinks practically rather rashly. Because her father defected to the Greeks and left her in Troy, her life hangs in an uncertain balance. She's concerned with self-preservation rather than ideals of happiness and love. Criseyde judges men not just by their merits, but by what they can do for her. When she first meets Troilus, she praises "his excellent prowesse/ And his estat, and also his renown," (Chaucer II.660-61), and is positive that she is inclined to like him (Chaucer II.674-75). However, when she is with Diomede, she says the same thing. She tells Diomede that she respects that he is "of noble and heigh kynrede," (Chaucer V.979) and when she sees him prove his might in battle (as she saw Troilus) she promises to consider him. Criseyde says the same thing to two different men, but pledges her heart to neither. She is not a false lover, but a shrewd woman desperate for a safe life. Her favoritism for one knight or the other depends not on her feelings for that particular knight, but on his ability to keep her safe. Criseyde is a practical heroine not ruled by the humours that were presumed to trouble many of her sex. Criseyde successfully protects herself from the war raging around her, and is often judged as a betrayer because of it. Jill Mann notes, "The character of betrayer is one with which events invest her, not one we are persuaded is hers from the beginning," (611). Criseyde doesn't betray because that is her character, she betrays because her situation forces the choice upon her. Chaucer gives us a character who is not simply a cold, deceitful woman, but a complex human, pushed to act unkindly to save herself. It makes the reader wonder how many other female "betrayers" had more to worry about than simply love. Chaucer prompts us to wonder how many women were more practical thinkers than romances allowed them to be.

Criseyde's education is what allows her to reason through her decisions, rather than rely on the whims of her heart. Many noblewomen were educated enough to understand the world around them, and typically medieval noblewomen became knowledgeable patrons of the arts (Ward 115), though this aspect of their lives was often glossed over in literature. Chaucer shows Criseyde listening to a reading about the siege of Thebes (II.82-6), which not only shows the audience that Criseyde is an educated, well-informed woman, but also that she understands the world and isn't listening to only religious texts. She also has the capacity to respond critically to things around her, which again shows a unique level of independent thought for a heroine. When she listens to her friend Antigone sing a Trojan song of a perfect love (Chaucer II.826-75), Criseyde responds skeptically, "is ther swych blisse" (Chaucer II.885) because, for Criseyde at that point in her life, pure love was not enough. Chaucer allows his character to make that connection between a song and her life to show us that she is not only intelligent, but also analytical. Because women made up much of the audience and patrons for the arts, they were likely well informed about works and able to break ideas down and apply them, but critical thinking was not one of the characteristics attributed to the typical heroine. Chaucer emphasizes Criseyde's education to give us another reason for her practical thought processes and lack of romantic whimsy. Chaucer also brings to the tale a woman with the mental capacity to learn and
understand the world just as well as a man.

Readers of medieval romances tend to connect to the male protagonists not only because the author spends much more time with the characters, but also because the author often gives insight into their thoughts. Heroines in medieval romance tend to act or speak rather than think, so we never truly get the opportunity to understand what drives them. In Troilus and Criseyde, one of the most vitally important choices Chaucer makes is to reveal Criseyde's thoughts to the audience. The audience sees inside Criseyde's mind as she debates between wanting to love Troilus and worrying about the consequences (Chaucer II.652-812). Showing us her thought process is a vital part of helping us to understand and sympathize with Criseyde as a character. As an audience, we see beyond what Criseyde says and does and glimpse the inner turmoil she lives with in Troy. While considering Troilus, she ponders:

"Ek wel woot I my kynges sone is he,
and sith he hath to se me swich delit,
if I wold outreliche his sighte flee,
Peraunter he might have me in dispit,
Thorugh which I myghte stoned in worse plit.
Now were I wis, me hate to perchace,
Withouten need, ther I maystonde in grace?"(ChaucerII. 708-14)

We know from this soliloquay that Criseyde is worried about landing "in worse plite," rather than true love. Her thoughts are almost entirely consumed with her own position and survival, so the audience knows that she isn't truly in love with Troilus. The process is vital to understanding and sympathizing with Criseyde's final betrayal. "It is the in the slow process of Criseyde's acceptance of Troilus that we learn to understand how, when the time comes, she will gradually abandon him for Diomede," (Mann 612). Without understanding her mind, Criseyde's choice would seem heartless and cruel. Through Criseyde, Chaucer shows the audience the inner personal struggles beyond frivolities and romance that might have been missing from their judgment of heroines and women. By some standards, Criseyde might have failed in her role as a heroine because she refuses the hero's love, but Chaucer won't let us judge Criseyde so harshly. He urges his readers to accept women as complex, worthy individuals with their own thoughts, lives and needs, rather than simple objects of love and lust.

Criseyde's choice at the end of Troilus and Criseyde shocks audiences because it flies in the face of expectation. The heroine is supposed to fall madly in love with the hero, but for Chaucer, that makes a woman an object rather than a human. Literature has the ability to influence and reflect society, but for Chaucer, the typical heroine does not do women justice. Women are practical, unique, rational beings with fears and doubts as powerful as any man's, and shouldn't be forced into the traditional mold of the lovesick heroine. Chaucer's character of Criseyde is a betrayer, but Chaucer will not let us dismiss her as such. He takes us inside her mind and allows us to understand her in an effort to alter the traditional definitions of women and heroines. We do not just see Criseyde act, but we understand the why behind those actions, and that why is the most powerful tool Chaucer could use to succeed in his mission. He begs his audience to not only ask why of Criseyde, but to ask it of any heroine his readers encounter or any woman they might be inclined to judge too quickly. A stereotype becomes dangerous when we begin to assume we understand a person's character without knowing them, so Chaucer alters the traditional path of the heroine, breaks through the stereotype, and makes it his mission to give women a fair place in both literature and society.

Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. Troilus and Criseyde. Ed. Stephen A. Barney. Norton & Company: New York, 2006.
Leyser, Henrietta. Medieval Women. St. Martin's Press: New York, 1995.
Mann, Jill. "From Feminizing Chaucer." Troilus and Criseyde. Ed. Stephen A. Barney. Norton & Company: New York, 2006. Pp. 606-22.
Ward, Jennifer. Women in England in the Middle Ages. Hambledon Continuum: London, 2006.