The Legend of Good Women Essay Questions

Is the Legend of Good Women an anti-misogynistic text? Why or why not?

The Legend of Good Women has a complicated relationship with patriarchy. On one hand, it reinterprets many stories from classical mythology by focusing on the fate of women. This move humanizes women who were often originally presented as plot devices. It suggests that history might make men appear heroic only because the past is often narrated from a misogynistic perspective. However, the Legend ultimately reinforces many of the beliefs about gender that maintained the subjugation of women in the Middle Ages. For example, Chaucer often edits stories to remove female agency, as when he cuts out Philomela and Progne’s revenge. Although it emphasizes women’s goodness, it suggests that that goodness necessarily takes the form of victimhood.

Discuss one moment where The Legend seems to be saying something more complicated than what the narrator states.

At the conclusion of Pyramus and Thisbe, the narrator emphasizes that Pyramus’s choice to kill himself for Thisbe when he believes her to be dead makes him one of the only faithful male lovers in history. However, Chaucer’s framing of his death emphasizes its dramatic and situational irony. The reader is aware that Thisbe is only a few feet away, and we feel frustrated that Pyramus doesn’t look for her before committing suicide. Furthermore, his choice to kill himself ironically ends up causing Thisbe’s actual death, because she commits suicide to be with him. Thus, while the narrator describes his choice as noble, the text presents it as unnecessary and ridiculous.

Identify one allusion in the Legend. What is its significance?

At the conclusion of the Legend of Hipsipsyle and Medea, Chaucer recounts Medea’s betrayal by Jason, and begins to quote her reprimand to him. However, he cuts the letter off by instead referring the reader to Ovid, where they can read the whole letter in verse. He is specifically referring to Ovid’s Heroides, a collection of stories told from the perspective of women from classical mythology. Here, the allusion to Ovid enables Chaucer to keep the story brief while still displaying his mastery of its specifics and knowledge of classical history. He also employs the allusion to justify the lack of a prolonged speech from Medea herself. This allows the narrator to reclaim the spotlight from Medea. Chaucer’s decision to allude to Ovid rather than including the scene in his own story thus prevents the Legend from becoming a character study, maintaining instead its focus on broader historical trends and the writer’s control over how history is understood.

How does Chaucer construct his identity in the Prologue?

Chaucer presents himself as a learned author responsible for many of the greatest works of Middle English writing. Some of this comes from the narrator directly, as when he describes himself choosing books over games. He also employs logical argument to stress the value of writing, opening the narrative with a prolonged argument for writing’s power to preserve the truth as well as entertain. He also uses Cupid and Alceste to shape his own persona. Although they are portrayed as condemning Chaucer, in reality their lists of his work familiarize the reader with the Chaucer canon, and convince them to see the Legend in the context of his many other great works.

Discuss one non-romantic relationship in the Legend. How does it relate to the book’s broader themes?

The most important relationships in The Legend of Good Women are between lovers. Other important relationships include those between fathers and children, especially daughters who betray their parents for the sake of a man. However, the relationship between Philomela and Progne is unique as a relationship between women. Chaucer removes their revenge from his version of the story, so we don’t see the two of them actively teaming up against a man. Still, their support for one another contradicts the book’s repeated insistence that women are faithful lovers and little else. Progne readily forsakes her husband when she sees what he has done to her sister. Their embrace at the end of the story is one of the few moments of intimacy depicted in the text, rather than simply referred to. It hints that relationships between women are often equally intense as those between lovers, even if they are often absent from literature.