『명예의 전당』과 『선녀열전』

Dido's Images of Lust and Feminine Strategy in House of Fame and Legend of Good Women

Dido in House of Fame and Legend of Good Women shows both the medieval general male dominated view toward women and how Chaucer reflected it in his works. In Chaucer's times, almost all of the medieval women did not or could not express their voice and thoughts. They were represented by the clergymen or unmarried clerks, who did not recognize the real women's position and their opinions on women were absolutely limited. House of Fame, one of Chaucer's early works, reflected such general male view toward women, which was expressed by sexual images in Venus' temple and Venus herself. Various images in the temple of Venus represented Lust which was described as women's images by Clergy. Descriptions about Dido and Dido's clothing were not fully developed in House of Fame. In those days, Dido was a heroine in classical texts by writers such as Vigil or Ovid. Chaucer also wanted to use Dido as his heroine and imitate the classical writers. Apparently, he seemed to have failed since he could not describe Dido characteristically and exert his creative abilities to be shown in his later works such as The Canterbury Tales or Troilus and Criseyde. However, Dido's images represented as Venus in House of Fame, though fragmental and limited, show that Chaucer was actually considering his poetic skills and strategies. Dido in Legend of Good Women seemed similar to Dido in House of Fame, but her emotions and how she became to love Aeneas were described in detail. This shows Chaucer's poetic development. In Legend of Good Women, Chaucer stressed her foolish lust and aggressive giving. She didn't show any feminine strategies in her relationship with Aeneas. As a result, we are led to think that she failed due to her non-strategy. In fact, her non-strategy is Chaucer's strategy to obtain his poetic fulfillment. By showing her foolishness, Chaucer reminds women that they need their strategies to win men. This also means he needs poetic strategies that are different from the past classical writers.