Cresseid, Dido and the Power of Speech

Royan, Nicola

Abstract

The representation of women is often used as a critical touchstone for the re-assessment of many medieval texts: this is also true of discussions of Robert Henryson’s The Testament of Cresseid and Gavin Douglas’s Eneados. This essay compares these poems’ representation of female figures, specifically Cresseid and Dido, but also others, both mortal and immortal. It reflects briefly on the differences between the Scottish poems and their Chaucerian models, Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, and The Legend of Good Women and considers in more depth the frames provided for their narrative of women’s experience. Finally, it explores the provision of speech to female figures, and the relationship between women’s voices, and their agency and experience, and the masculine frames of judgement in which they are set. The essay concludes by suggesting that having a voice may be considered as a proxy for moral agency, and brings culpability in its wake.

Citation

Royan, N. (2020). Cresseid, Dido and the Power of Speech. Nottingham Medieval Studies, 64, 61-86. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.NMS.5.127657

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 17, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 21, 2024
• Print ISSN: 0078-2122
• Electronic ISSN: 2507-0444
• Publisher: Brepols Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 64
• Pages: 61-86
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/J.NMS.5.127657
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/31451000
• Publisher URL: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.NMS.5.127657