The Legend of Good Women by Geoffrey Chaucer - 605 Words

INTRODUCTION Published in 1386, The Legend of Good Women is the third longest poem of the Chaucer’s works, after The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. This medieval work is not only an average poem in the form of Chaucer’s dream vision, but above all is possibly the first significant work in English to use the iambic pentameter or decasyllabic couplets, which became an important part of English literature. In the recent years, the poem has been the subject of several studies on gender issues among many critics of literature, which have been trying to properly analyze and interpret the content of the work. Many of literary scholars such as Elaine Tuttle Hansen, Carolyn Dinshaw, Pricilla Martin and quite a few others unanimously argue that rather than a work about women, the Legend is actually more about false men and how they are â€Å"feminized.† Furthermore, they also touch upon a very important issue relating to the presentation of men in an unfavourable light, as ‘false’ characters. This long Chaucer’s poem is divided into nine sections, which contain ten stories of innocent women, namely Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermnestra. In the Prologue, the author falls asleep and is reprimanded by Cupid, the God of Love, and his queen Alceste for his previous work, Troilus and Criseyde – portraying women in a poor light. Both the God of Love and his queen are dissatisfied with Chaucer, on account of writing aboutShow MoreRelatedGeoffrey Chaucer s Impact On Literature1231 Words   |  5 PagesGeoffrey Chaucer’s Impact on Literature: English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is acclaimed to be one of the best and most influential poets in history. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote several famous literary works in what is called middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1340 in London, England. Over the course of Chaucer’s life, he entered and exited several different social classes. He began to write his most known pieces when he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster in 1357. He diedRead MoreComparison Of The Black Death In Chaucers The Canterbury Tales886 Words   |  4 PagesChaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and The Knight’s Tale Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales replays the journey of twenty-nine pilgrims. The pilgrims venture to Canterbury to worship at the Shrine of St. Thomas a’ Becket. 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