How Troilus and Cressida drew on The Canterbury Tales
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Geoffrey Chaucer’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer · c. 1400
MedievalThe influenced
Troilus and Cressida
William Shakespeare · c. 1602
ShakespeareRelevance
8/10
On Troilus and Cressida’s page
- Shakespeare drew the play's plot directly from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde — he knew Chaucer's work intimately
- The disillusioned love story is Chaucer's; Shakespeare just sharpens the cynicism
- Chaucer's range — the comedy, the romance, the cutting irony — is the soil this play grew in
On The Canterbury Tales’s page
- Shakespeare knew Chaucer well — and lifted the plot of Troilus and Cressida straight from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
- Chaucer is the English ancestor in the room: the lovers, the betrayal, the bitter aftertaste all come down through him