Mythological Influences on Chaucer

Chaucer wrote a number of works that were directly influenced or inspired by Greek mythology. These include short poems like “Complaint of Mars” and “Complaint of Venus” as well as longer ones, like “Troilus and Cressida” and “Anelida and Arcite.” Even in his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, there is a direct link to ancient Greece, with the Knight’s tale telling the story of Theseus, king of Athens in Greek mythology. This paper will discuss how stories of gods, legends, and traditions of ancient Greece greatly influenced English writer and poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
Greek mythology had captured the imaginations of people in the West for centuries. The Romans were so enamored of Greek mythology that they essentially adopted the Greek beliefs as their own, Latinized them (gave them Roman names to replace the Greek ones), and built their own altars and shrines and temples honoring them. Jupiter and Zeus, Mars and Ares, Athena and Minerva—they are the same gods and goddesses, just with different names. As Christianity took over the West falling the fall of pagan Rome, the Christian beliefs took root throughout the West. The old myths died until humanism brought them back during the High Renaissance (Panofsky). Chaucer was inspired by the Italian poet Boccaccio, who was greatly influenced by the humanism of the time and the return of artists to their Western, pre-Christian roots: the old myths of Greece. Chaucer thus used these myths that were very popular at the time that he was writing to inspire and serve as the basis for many of his own poems and stories. He was influenced by them because many artists in the West were being influenced by them at the end of the Renaissance (Storm).
One of the best examples of this Greek influence is in “The Knight’s Tale,” in which the character of the tale of two knights named Palamon and Arcite are friends who fall out with one another over a Grecian woman named Emily. Emily is the is the sister in law of Theseus, duke of Athens, and a predominant character in many ancient Greek dramas and legends. The two knights are enemy combatants of Theseus in his war with Creon; they are caught and imprisoned. They then see Emily from their cells and fall in love with her. Each manages to escape prison and make their intentions known to Emily. Theseus finds them, however, and intends to put them to death. At the request of Emily and his own wife, Theseus relents and states that they may have a giant tournament and whoever wins will marry Emily. Emily, Arcite and Palamon all pray to a different divine entity: Emily prays to Diana, Arcite to Mars, and Palamon to Venus. Their choice of whom to pray to is telling and indicates Chaucer’s deep knowledge of Greek mythology. The gods and goddesses are described by their Roman names but the identities are Grecian.
Writing during the Renaissance and as a Christian (and in a work that is set during a pilgrimage to a Christian shrine where Catholics pray for grace), Chaucer was showing his affection for the Greek tradition and for Greek mythology by having the most noble character in the Tales (the Knight) tell a story set in the age of Greek mythology. In other words, Chaucer was connecting the virtue and ethics of his own Christian era to the virtue and ethics of the Grecian era (Weever).
Indeed, Chaucer expresses as much in the Tale when he writes near the end of the story the words of one of the friends, who is dying and now seeks to unite Emily with the other:  
The god of love, ah, bless my soul!
How mighty and how great a lord is he!
Against his power there avail no obstacles.
He may be called a god for his miracles,
For he can make, as he pleases,
Of every heart whatever he wants to devise (Chaucer 1785-1790)
What is seen in these words is the logical exposition of a man who has literally seen the light: he has prayed to one god for victory in the fight, while his friend has prayed to the goddess of love to win the hand of Emily in marriage. Emily has prayed to Diana for guidance—either to go unwed or to be married to the man who truly loves her. Everyone has their prayers answered. Arcite wins the contest but loses the war; Palamon wins Emily. And Emily is married to the man who truly loves her. Chaucer shows his respect for Greek mythology with this tale, using to underscore a lesson that would not be lost on his Christian audience: one gets what one prays for. This lesson was taught by the Christians with respect to their own God, who is on record in the New Testament as saying, “Ask, and it shall be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). In the Tale, Chaucer takes this Christian teaching and applies it to the Greek myth that he tells. In short, he is inspired by the Greek mythology but infuses a Christian teaching into it. The characters get what they ask for—and the lesson, of course, is to be careful what you ask for.
This character of Arcite can be found in an earlier poem of Chaucer entitled “Anelida and Arcite,” which shows that he was fond of the myth and the problem of Arcite being a false lover. In that poem as well as in the Knight’s tale, Arcite is not truly a lover (but rather a fighter), which is why he prays only to win the contest and not to win the hand of Emily, and which is why in the poem “Anelida and Arcite” he is characterized as a false lover. Chaucer saw the Greek myths as being full of drama and tension that he could use to reflect ideas that would be welcomed by his Christian readers (Weever).
Chaucer also uses the setting of the Trojan War—one of the greatest Greek myths (told, of course, by Homer in The Iliad)—for his epic Troilus and Cressida. The story has all the characters of the Greek myth and uses them for a backdrop to tell the story of the two lovers. As Timothy Arner describes in his analysis of Chaucer’s work, “Chaucer had identified Troy as the most famous and contentious legend” (68) and was eager to use it as the dramatic backdrop of a romance that would appeal to his High Renaissance readers.
Thus, Chaucer acknowledges in his works the fact that the Greek myths were in demand but also that his own age was Christian and wanted a coupling of ancient myth with Christian ideas or principles. Drama and tragedy and epic all had to conform to a standard that was reflective of the Christian teachings, even if it used source material for plots from ancient myths. Artists all over Europe were using the myths as source material—whether in sculpture, painting or writing. Chaucer was no different and was simply following a trend that was popular both on the continent and in England, where humanism had arrived in force.
This desire to use the Greek myths was a reflection, indeed, of this desire to embrace humanism and to see human beings as they really were. That is why Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are so full of real, life-like characters while simultaneously giving agreeable nods to the ancient Greek myths that were also important to the West and its philosophical and artistic foundations.
The stories of Greek gods, legends and traditions stood at the heart of the history of the West. Greece was the first nation to really capture the heart and imagination of people for centuries. Their storytellers related tales of great drama and tragedy and comedy. The humanism that developed in Europe at the end of the Renaissance grew out of artists’ and scholars’ appreciation for Greece’s role in laying the foundations of Western thought. The concept of humanism was focused on taking a closer, harder look at human nature, human backgrounds, human experience and using it to better understand their world, their own selves, and their past, and how to make the future brighter and better. Humanism in the time of the Renaissance was a way to look backward to the past and a way to look forward to the future while considering what was most important in understanding the present.
In conclusion, Chaucer was influenced by the Greek myths, their characters and stories, because he was a writer living in a time (the High Renaissance) when much of Europe was enamored of the stories of ancient Greece. They saw them as being full of powerful metaphors and tales that reflected a great deal of human nature. A poet like Chaucer would not have missed the significant draw and appeal that these stories would have on a humanist audience during the Renaissance. That is why he took them, used them, showed his appreciation for them, and tied them into the works he created, showing a realistic side of human life, a religious side, and a dramatic side that was grounded in the great foundation of Western literature and art that the Greeks had given to the world through their own unique mythology.
Works Cited
Arner, Timothy D. “Chaucer's second Hector: the triumphs of Diomede and the
possibility of epic in Troilus and Criseyde.” Medium Aevum 79.1, (2010), 68.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales.
https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/kt-par2.htm
Panofsky, Erwin, and Fritz Saxl. “Classical mythology in mediaeval art.” Metropolitan
Museum Studies 4.2 (1933): 228-280.
Storm, Melvin. “The Mythological Tradition in Chaucer’s” Complaint of
Mars”.” Philological Quarterly 57.3 (1978): 323.
Weever, Jacqueline de. "Chaucer's Moon: Cinthia, Diana, Latona, Lucina,
Proserpina." Names 34.2 (1986): 154-174.