That Which Chargeth Not to Say: Animal Imagery in Troilus and Criseyde

Abstract

As the second book of Troilus and Criseyde opens, Pandarus has had a bad night. He is eventually awakened from a fitful sleep by the “swalowe Proigne,” lamenting “whi she forshapen was” and “cheterynge / How Tereus gan forth hire suster take.”¹ Procne’s chattering seems out of place in several ways. For one thing, her tale of rape and revenge violates the courtly though casual tone of the main narrative. For another, Procne is out of her historical (or mythic) milieu. A third anomaly, less conspicuous but central to our concerns in this book, is that she is the only nonhuman character to act or speak in the poem.