Chaucerian tragedy

by Henry Ansgar Kelly

In this study Henry Ansgar Kelly proposes Geoffrey Chaucer as the inventor of modern tragedy: Chaucer defined it and produced a memorable example of it in Troilus and Criseyde; his lead was followed by later authors, and it was his notion of tragedy that was dominant in the age of Shakespeare, rather than any classical or neo-Aristotelian ideas. The author takes issue with several critical stereotypes about tragedy in the middle ages, and argues that, contrary to received wisdom, it was not a common term, nor was there a uniform meaning given to it by the few authors - including Boccaccio - who used the word or wrote what were called tragedies. Kelly sets Chaucer's approach to tragedy in context by contrasting modern with medieval theoretical approaches to the study of genres, and then by analysing Chaucer's work, including the tragedies of the Monk's tale and, particularly, Troilus and Criseyde. Lydgate and Henryson are shown adopting and modifying Chaucer's theory and practice of tra