The Legend of Good Women by Geoffrey Chaucer
"The Legend of Good Women" is a narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer that explores the stories of women from history and mythology who exemplify fidelity in love. Written between 1380 and 1386, the work is structured around a prologue and several legends, ultimately showcasing the sacrifices these women make for love, often at the hands of treacherous men. The prologue is notable for its celebration of spring and nature, where Chaucer engages with themes of love and duty through a dream vision involving Cupid and the figure Alceste, who urges him to write these legends.
Chaucer intended to create a collection of twenty tales but completed only eight, and the work reflects a somewhat formulaic approach to its subject matter, portraying its heroines as saintly and admirable while casting their male counterparts as villains. Notable legends include that of Dido, who suffers heartbreak due to Aeneas's betrayal, and Lucretia, who takes her own life after being raped. These narratives highlight the emotional depth of the female characters, even as they sometimes succumb to repetitive storytelling patterns.
Despite its limitations, "The Legend of Good Women" is significant in Chaucer's oeuvre, showcasing his early use of the decasyllabic couplet and paving the way for the more nuanced characterizations found in his later works. It serves as a transitional piece that reflects both the literary conventions of the time and Chaucer's distinctive narrative style.
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The Legend of Good Women by Geoffrey Chaucer
First published: 1380-1386
Type of work: Poetry
Principal characters
Chaucer , the dreamerCupid , the god of loveAlceste , the wife of Admetus, the king of PheraeCleopatra , the queen of EgyptThisbe , the beloved of PyramusDido , the queen of CarthageHypsipyle , the queen of Lemnos, who is betrayed by JasonMedea , the princess of Colchis, who is betrayed by JasonLucretia , a Roman matron raped by TarquinAriadne , a Cretan princess betrayed by TheseusPhilomela , an Athenian princess raped by TereusPhyllis , a Greek maiden betrayed by DemophonHypermnestra , the daughter of Danaüs, the king of Egypt
The Work:
The Legend of Good Women, a poem recounting the stories of women from history and myth who were martyrs to love, is written in the tradition of medieval love poetry. Unlike Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpieces, Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1382) and The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400), this work only occasionally rises above the limitations imposed by the artificial conventions of the times and is, therefore, somewhat inferior to these other works. Chaucer’s greatness as a poet resulted less from his ability to perfect the current modes of writing than from his capacity to transcend them. Although his debt to contemporary thought and literary practice was considerable, his lasting position among English writers depends largely on his gift for bringing reality to a literature that was customarily unrealistic. In The Legend of Good Women, however, he constructed a framework so restrictive as to prevent his being able to infuse it with the richness and subtle shadings of human existence.
The most engaging part of the poem is the prologue, in which Chaucer expresses his elation at the arrival of spring and his delight in roaming through the meadows, listening to the small birds, and gazing at the flowers. He is especially attracted to the daisy, which he can observe for hours without becoming bored. One spring day, after a walk in the fields, he falls asleep and has a vision in which the god of love and the beautiful Alceste, dressed in the colors of the daisy, appear before him. Cupid denounces the dreamer for having committed heresy against the laws of love in writing of Criseyde’s infidelity and translating the Romaunt of the Rose (c. 1370), with its disparaging remarks about womankind. Cupid’s companion (the same Alceste whom Hercules rescued from Hades after she had given her life to redeem her husband from death) rises to the poet’s defense by contending that he, having appropriated his plots from other writers, has acted out of ignorance, not malice. She concludes that he might gain Cupid’s forgiveness by writing a legendry of wives and maidens who have been faithful in love all of their lives.
The prologue is filled with literary devices popular in the fourteenth century. The religion of love—which had its sins, penances, self-abnegation, and sanctity, as well as the figures of Cupid and Alceste, somewhat analogous to God and the Virgin Mary—closely paralleled the Christian religion. The daisy had recently replaced the rose as the symbol of love. Chaucer touches on the question of whether the flower or the leaf is superior, apparently a hotly debated issue in courtly circles, but the poet does not commit himself. The dream-vision used here had been a very popular device ever since the appearance of the Romaunt of the Rose, and Chaucer himself employed it in several works. Despite this elaborate machinery, which today is mainly of historic interest, the prologue has about it a universal appeal; cheerfulness, humor, and a tinge of ironic detachment preserve it from mediocrity. Also delightful is Chaucer’s expression of pleasure in nature.
According to the prologue, Chaucer planned to write twenty tales about good women. He finished eight and left a ninth just short of completion. The theme of all the legends is the fidelity of women in love. All the heroines suffer for, and the majority die for, their love. All are treated as wholly admirable, even saintly, without regard to the illicit nature of some of the relationships presented. Events in their lives that are not concerned with their fidelity are omitted or hastily summarized. With the exception of the first two legends, the women suffer as the result of the treachery of men, who are generally thoroughgoing villains.
The longest and one of the best of the legends retells the story of Dido’s love for Aeneas. After Aeneas lands on the Libyan coast, he meets Venus, his mother, who instructs him to go to the court of Dido, the queen of Carthage. Dido greets him cordially and, knowing of his flight from Troy, feels great pity for the disinherited hero. With her pity comes love, and to comfort and entertain Aeneas during his visit, she provides everything her riches can command.
One day, when Aeneas, Dido, and her retinue are hunting, a thunderstorm bursts upon them. Everyone rushes for shelter, and Dido and Aeneas find themselves together in a cave. There the perfidious Aeneas protests his love for her, and she, after much importuning, has pity and yields herself to him. For a time afterward, Aeneas does everything a courtly lover should, but finally, becoming weary, he makes plans to leave. When Dido notes his lessened ardor and asks him what is wrong, he tells her of a vision he has had (a pure fabrication, Chaucer implies) in which his father has reminded him of his destiny to conquer Italy. Ignoring Dido’s pleas, Aeneas steals away to his ships without her. As soon as she discovers his absence, she has her sister build a funeral pyre upon which she stabs herself, using Aeneas’s sword.
Chaucer’s principal source for this tale was Vergil’s Aeneid (c. 29-19 b.c.e.; English translation, 1553), to which he made only slight modifications in the plot but substantial changes in characterization. Dido, who in Vergil’s telling does not escape censure, is made blameless by Chaucer, mainly by his elaboration of the scene in the cave. By minimizing the intervention of the gods and degrading Aeneas’s motives, Chaucer turns Vergil’s pious Aeneas into a mere seducer. He thus transforms a story of tragic struggle between love and duty into one of man’s treachery and woman’s loyalty.
Chaucer’s source for “The Legend of Lucretia” was Ovid’s Fasti (c. 8 c.e.; English translation, 1859), which he followed quite closely. To prove the virtues of his wife, Lucretia, Collatinus offers to accompany Tarquin, the king’s son, to Rome to see her. Secreted outside her chamber door, they find her spinning among her servants and expressing concern for her husband’s safety. Tarquin, observing her beauty, conceives a great desire for her. The next day, his lust increasing, he determines to return to Collatinus’s house and seduce Lucretia. Stealing into her room at night, he threatens her at the point of a sword and, while she lies in a swoon, rapes her. After he leaves, Lucretia dresses in mourning, calls her friends about her, and tells them what has happened. Declaring that her husband shall not gain a foul name from her guilt, she stabs herself.
“The Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea” recounts the double treachery of Jason. On his expedition to recover the Golden Fleece, Jason stops at the island of Lemnos, where he and Hercules meet Queen Hypsipyle and conspire to win her for Jason. While Jason counterfeits modesty, Hercules extols his virtues, thus ensnaring Hypsipyle, who consents to marry Jason. After using her wealth and begetting two children with her, Jason leaves Hypsipyle. He ignores her letter imploring him to return, but she remains true to him and dies of a broken heart.
After Jason arrives at Colchis, he is entertained by King Aeetes, and Medea, the king’s daughter, becomes enamored of him. She tells him that the Golden Fleece can be secured only with her help. They agree to marry, and Jason makes a solemn promise never to be untrue. Later, after the expedition is successful, Jason again proves false, leaving Medea to marry Creusa.
Toward the end of The Legend of Good Women, Chaucer’s work indicates a definite weariness with his subject. By adhering to his original plan, he had written tales with a tiresome sameness about them. Committed to depicting perfect women and, in most instances, evil men, he found it difficult to develop his characters. A further deterrent to good characterization was his effort to keep the tales brief; as a result, some are little more than plot summaries. Because he lavished more attention on Dido than on his other heroines, hers is the most lifelike portrait. There are, however, good touches in the other female characters, including, for example, the pathos of Lucretia in her death scene and the mingled fear and courage of Thisbe. Chaucer’s men are, however, little more than abstractions.
These tales mark a step toward Chaucer’s later work. In The Legend of Good Women, he first used the decasyllabic couplet that he afterward employed so successfully in The Canterbury Tales. Moreover, juxtaposing The Legend of Good Women with Troilus and Criseyde was good preparation for the subtler contrasts of the Marriage Group. It is possible that Chaucer abandoned the work because of growing absorption with The Canterbury Tales. Whatever the case, The Legend of Good Women is an interesting transitional work with merits of its own.
Bibliography
Boitani, Piero, and Jill Mann, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Collection of essays includes discussions of Chaucer’s style, the literary structure of his works, the social and literary scene in England during his lifetime, and his French and Italian inheritances. An essay by Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards examines The Legend of Good Women.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Legend of Good Women. Translated by Ann McMillan. Houston: Rice University Press, 1987. Provides a literal modern English translation of Chaucer’s Middle English verse. Includes an informative general introduction and useful suggestions for further reading on the subject of medieval women.
Collette, Carolyn P., ed.“The Legend of Good Women”: Context and Reception. Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 2006. Collection of essays applies a variety of late medieval cultural approaches to interpretation of the poem. Includes discussion of the poem’s manuscript and print history as well as the influence of stories about Amazons, Thebes, and Troy upon the work.
Frank, Robert Worth, Jr. Chaucer and “The Legend of Good Women.” Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972. First full-length study of the poem remains one of the best sources on this work for the general reader. Focuses on narrative technique and argues that the poem represents a stylistic turning point in Chaucer’s development.
Holton, Amanda. The Sources of Chaucer’s Poetics. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2008. Examines the literary sources for The Legend of Good Women and five of The Canterbury Tales, describing how Chaucer adapted these sources to create his own narrative, speech, rhetoric, and figurative language.
Kiser, Lisa J. Telling Classical Tales: Chaucer and “The Legend of Good Women.” Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983. Argues that the work is really more about Chaucer’s basic views of literature than about his views of love. Includes discussions of medieval theories of literature and an analysis of Chaucer’s use of sources.
Lynch, Kathryn L. Chaucer’s Philosophical Visions. Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 2000. Focuses on Chaucer’s knowledge of and interest in late medieval English Scholasticism and other forms of philosophy, and how his works reflect his philosophical visions. Chapter 5 discusses The Legend of Good Women.
Percival, Florence. Chaucer’s Legendary Good Women. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Presents a comprehensive interpretation of the poem, placing it within the context of medieval literary, political, and cultural traditions.
Rowe, Donald W. Through Nature to Eternity: Chaucer’s “The Legend of Good Women.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Surveys relevant contexts and earlier criticism and argues that the poem has a circular or cyclical structure rather than being merely a series of loosely related portraits. Interprets the nine legends as a complete, coherent, and artistically successful whole.