Influence of Boethius on Troilus and Criseyde :: Troilus Criseyde Essays

Influence of Boethius on Troilus and Criseyde   about 524, the Christian philosopher Boethius awaited his death. During the last stage of his life, he composed cardinal of the most influential writings of the Medieval period The Consolation of Philosophy. C.S. Lewis says of the work, To deal a taste for it is almost to become naturalized in the nerve center Ages (Lewis 75). Over 800 years later, Geoffrey Chaucer, bingle of the most highly praised authors in the side language, would draw upon Boethius to compose his finest work, Troilus and Criseyde.   The most important Boethian influence Chaucer extracts is the intensity of something macrocosm increased or decreased by the knowledge of its foeman. Boethius main tidings of this concept is in books three and four deal where he deals with the position of work of evil. The question at hand is, How can evil exist in a world with an omnibenevolent and omnipotent divinity fudge? If God is altogether-powerful, is anyth ing impossible for God? If God is all- salutary, can God commit evil? After overmuch discussion, Boethius concludes that evil is a privation of good and those who commit evil want something. He writes, so it is plain that those who atomic number 18 capable of evil are capable of less (Boethius 110). He continues, Therefore the power of doing evil is no object of desire (110). Thus the power of doing evil is a lack of the power of doing good. Boethius can know what evil is only when he starting realizes how to determine good.   Chaucer states problem in this way Everything is known for what it is by its opposite(Chaucer 14). Chaucers main examples of this phenomenom deal with the sweetness of joy and the bitterness of suffering. First, sweetness is make sweeter when one has tasted the bitterness of suffering. And now sweetness seems sweeter, because bitterness was experienced (79). When one experiences extreme bitterness, the slightest fading of that suffering brings ecstas y. On the other hand, bitterness is all the more bitter when one has tasted the sweetness of delight. Pandarus says, For of all fortunes keen adversities the bastinado kind of misfortune is this for a man to have been in good times and to remember them when theyre past (86-87). If one has tasted a high power point of sweetness, a lower degree sweetness is not as satisfying. This line of thought seems to be directly from Boethius.