ood, from whennes cometh my woo?If it be wikke, a wonder thynketh me,When every torment and adversiteThat cometh of hym may to me savory thinke,For ay thurst I, the more that ich it drink” (I, 400-06).He is questioning the very nature of Fortune and the events surrounding him. Boethius, while recounting his downfall to Lady Philosophy, asks her “where evil comes from if there is a god, and where good comes from if there isn’t” (Consolation, I, Pr. 4). The problem is that just as Boethius is wrong regarding Fortune, so is Troilus. Take Troilus’s lament in Book IV as a clear example of this misconception regarding Fortune and as a prime example of his fatalism:“Fortune, allas the while!What have I don? What have I thus agylt?How myghtestow for routh me bygile?Is ther no grace, and shal I thus be spilt?Shal thus Criseyde awy, for that thow wilt?Allas, how maistow in thyn herte fyndeTo ben to me thus cruwel and unkynde?” (IV, 260-266).When he continues, the true nature of his distress is revealed. “Have I the nought honoured al my lyve,/As thow wel woost, above the goddes alle?” (267-68). Troilus has devoted himself to the service of Fortune, but like Boethius, can not yet grasp her true nature. Chaucer uses this misconception to make even clearer that the true nature of Fortune is constant change. Troilus’s fatalism and misinterpretation of the favors of Fortune show up in sharp contrast to the opportunism and understanding of Pandarus. Troilus reacts with even greater fervor in Book IV when he thinks Criseyde has died. “O cruel Jove and thow, Fortune adverse,” he cries (IV, 1192). Salemi says that “Troilus’s frantic despair is a text book example, according to Boethian principles, of how not to react to adverse Fortune” (218). Troilus has just told the reader he had served Fortune all his life. How can he ask Fortune to be something she ...
