Lines 1-70: The poem begins with an unconventional use of a Spring/
Lenten opening, with the traditional depiction of the land reawakening
and blossoming after winter replaced by gloomy weather suited to
the sorrowful tale that is to follow, as the narrator remarks. The
narrator, who intended to pray to Venus from his window, is forced
to withdraw to his fireside to escape the bitter cold. To pass the
time, he reads Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, and describes
Troilus’ fate after Criseyde’s departure from Troy.
However, he stops short of describing Troilus’ death, claiming
that he need not repeat what Chaucer has already told. He now takes
up another book, which tells ‘the fatall destenie | Of fair
Cresseid, that ended wretchitlie’. Questioning the truth of
what Chaucer wrote, the narrator reminds us that this narrative
may be fiction rather than an authoritative record of the fate of
Cresseid.
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Lines 71-133: The narrative begins with Diomeid’s rejection
of Cresseid by a bill of divorce, after which Cresseid wanders,
and is said to have become promiscuous or a prostitute. The narrator
interjects to express his pity for the ‘fair’ Cresseid
and, claiming to disbelieve the rumours he reports, says that he
will excuse her as far as he may. In disguise, Cresseid leaves the
town for her father’s home amongst the Greeks. Her father
welcomes her, but, still sorrowful, she will not attend the public
service at the temple where he is priest of Venus and Cupid. In
a private chapel, she accuses the gods of love of having broken
faith and abandoned her.
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Lines 134-343: After her complaint, Cresseid falls into a trance
and dreams that Cupid summons the moon and the seven planets to
descend and try her for blasphemy. After descriptions of each of
the gods, Cupid prosecutes his case, claiming that Cresseid’s
offence against himself and his mother, Venus, harms all the gods.
Mercury advises him to entrust Cresseid’s punishment to the
highest and lowest of the planets, and so Saturn and Cynthia are
chosen to judge her. They punish her with leprosy, which destroys
her looks and condemns her to penury, and the narrator interjects
to complain against the harshness of this punishment.
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Lines 344-406: On waking, Cresseid reproaches herself for her outburst
against the gods, seeing her punishment as the result of their ill
temper. Her father consoles her, and after they have mourned, she
tells him that she will go to the hospital at the edge of the town
in secret, asking him to send her some food there. In disguise and
carrying the cup and rattle of a leper, she leaves for the leper
hospital. Some of the lepers recognise her, others do not, but they
accept her more willingly because her way of lamenting reveals her
noble origins. Night comes, and without food she lies down to weep
in a dark corner, making her complaint.
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Lines 407-469: The Complaint of Cresseid.
Cresseid laments her misfortune, describing the luxurious life that
she has lost, and her faded beauty, in a long, formal complaint,
which ends with a plea to the ladies of Troy and Greece to remember
her fate as a warning.
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Lines 470-539: As she lies there, a leper woman approaches and
advises her to learn to make virtue of a necessity and live as other
lepers do, rather than struggling against her fate. She begins to
travel with the leper community, and her company encounters Troilus,
returning from a victory against the Greeks. Troilus responds to
the leper’s calls for alms, and, although neither recognises
the other, Cresseid looks up at Troilus in a way that reminds him
of his old love. In remembrance, he drops a belt, gold and jewels
into her lap, and rides away. On being told that her unknown benefactor
was Troilus, Cresseid faints.
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Lines 540-616. Recovering, Cresseid laments her infidelity, comparing
herself to the faithful Troilus, and makes her will. She commits
her body to the corruption of worms and toads, her goods to the
lepers, and a ring, which was a love token from Troilus, is to be
returned to him. She bequeaths her spirit to Diana, and lamenting
that Diomeid still has the broach and belt that Troilus gave to
her, she dies. On receiving the ring, Troilus faints with sorrow
and laments Cresseid’s unfaithfulness. The narrator reports
that some say Troilus made her a marble tomb with an inscription
in golden letters. The poem ends with a warning to women, asking
them to heed a poem made for their instruction and avoid mingling
their love with false deception.
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