The Representation of the Love Triangle in Chaucer
The Representation of the Love Triangle in The Book of Duchess, The House of Fame and The Parliament of Fowls.The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame and The Parliament of Fowls are the first three major works of the poet, Chaucer. Each of these poems is seemingly related to love. One view that reveals itself throughout the three poems is the human ability or inability to balance love on three levels, configured in a triangle as the love of God, man or woman, and country. Romantic or courtly love seems to be a downfall of the triangle for many of Chaucer's characters, for example, the man in black in The Book of Duchess and the aristocratic birds in the Parliament of Fowls. Chaucer seems quite aware of the problems associated with courtly love, which may be why he pinpoints romantic love as the specific subject of his poems. Ironically, Chaucer does not claim to know of romantic love from experience, yet he is well learned and cultured in the subject, most likely because of reading the works of Ovid and the Bible. Possibly, Chaucer is trying to alert his audience to the dangers of passionate love, which is very attractive, but also destructive and places its participants at odds with fate and society when it beco
The knight has gotten off balance in the triangle for his love for Blanche. There is no substance or truth to courtly love because it was designed by the hand of man as a way to coerce the woman into having sex. John of Gaunt views Blanche as perfect, having no flaws and as place where "Truth himself desired his mansion house to be," (1003, 1004). To remedy this, the eagle takes Chaucer to the House of Fame to hear "tydynges" of love. She believed Aeneas loved her, but discovered that this was only the appearance of the truth and he was really a "traitor" (267). The poem opens with "The Dream of Scipio" where the advice is given to "know thyself first immortal, And loke ay besyly thow werche and wyse To comun profit, and thow shalt not mysse To comen swiftly to that place deer That ful of blysse is and of soules cleere" (73-75). "She made of him her life, her love, her lust, her lord" (257, 258). The idea of courtly love inhibits the natural process of reproduction. " The birds of the lower class become impatient, because their mates cannot be assigned until the business of the aristocrats is done. The best love is really about having sex with a woman that the man desires because of her beauty and or status. Much like romantic love, fame appears very rewarding; however, it can cause despair and pain when it's lost. In Book II, an eagle presents himself to Chaucer, and he questions the eagles significance, and fantasizes he has come to make him famous like Enoch or Elijah, Romulus or Ganymede (586-593). The eagle accuses him of writing about love without having the experience of love. Courtly love, often of the focus of Chaucer's work, proves itself to be the breakdown of the triangle. In line 553, the dreamer says "For, by my trouthe, to make yow hool, I wol do al my power hool.
Common topics in this essay:
Array Courtesy,
Love God,
Possibly Chaucer,
John Gaunt,
Parliament Fowls,
Dream Scipio,
Aeneas Aeneas,
Lady Fame,
Jesus Christ,
House Fame,
courtly love,
love god,
house fame,
parliament fowls,
romantic love,
book duchess,
love triangle,
love blanche,
lustful love,
book duchess house,
love fame,
duchess house fame,
house fame parliament,
fame parliament fowls,
god woman country,
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Acceptance Essays
