The power of love and lust wielded by Cressida and the Lady White renders their suitors helpless. The struggle to attain the love of these women seems futile. Troilus and the Black Knight are quite young and naive and they react according to their experiences. They are both ‘mad in pursuit’ (Sonnet 129, 9) of these very beautiful women, putting aside the obligations of their office. The Black Knight is encapsulated in a dream, where the setting is calm and beautiful. Troilus’s languish is set during the turbulence of war. They both undergo changes after the betrayal. Unlike Troilus and Cressida, the Book of the Duchess does not portray the female perspective so the audience is biased to the endeavours of the Black Knight. In Troilus and Cressida, the power of sexual desire casts its web over a vaster area and influences the entire royal court of Troy, the conglomerate of Greek States and Greece’s greatest warrior, Achilles. Once the spell of sexual desire is lifted, the entranced resume their roles.
The Black Knight is enraptured by the Lady White’s beauty: ‘For all the worlde, so had she / Surmounted them all of beauty.’ (825-826) She also had a ‘steadfast countenance, / So noble port and maintenance.’ (833-834). She was s
. . .
Troilus and the Black Knight’s reaction to this power is a result of their immaturity and inexperience. ’(22-24) Finally after reading Ovid’s tragic love story of Ceyx and Alcyone, he is able to sleep and his dreams lead him to the Black Knight, who is also wholly affected, initially, by unfulfilled love. Achilles swears revenge when Patroclus is slain. 50) and ‘weaker than a woman’s tear’ (I. I cannot fight upon this argument: It is too starved a subject for my sword. Life every man holds dear; but the dear man Holds honour far more precious-dear than life. Cressida manipulates her power to suit her needs and uses it as a survival skill. Hector highlights that Troilus has been corrupted by the ‘hot passion of distempered blood’ (II. However, once the spell of the desire is broken the male figures undergo a transformation. The power that Cressida, Helen and the Lady White have over Troilus, the Black Knight, and the Greek and Trojan leaders is a negative and destructive force.
Approximate Word count =
1231
Approximate Pages =
5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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