Troilus and Criseyde

Poetry | Geoffrey Chaucer
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What is the significance of Troilus' Boar dream?

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What is the significance of Troilus' Boar dream? [2021] ✪✪✪

Dreams play an important role in “Troilus and Criseyde” (1385). Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) uses Troilus’s Boar dream to show the dark sign of his coming tragedy. It is a dream full of warning. It shows love, fear, loss, and fate together in one picture.

The Dream as a Symbol of Fear: When Troilus lies sick in his chamber at Troy, he dreams of a boar. Chaucer says,

“And that the boor was shewed him in figure.”

(And that the boar was shown to him in a vision or symbolic form.)

The image of the wild boar makes Troilus afraid. He wakes up full of doubt and sorrow. The dream is not just a fantasy; it comes from Jove’s divine plan. It means a divine warning of future loss.

The Dream as a Symbol of Betrayal: The boar in the dream stands for Diomede. He is the Greek warrior who later steals Criseyde’s heart. Troilus’s

heart is broken when he gets the brooch he gave Criseyde as a token of his love in Diomedes' coat. Chaucer remarks,

“And eek a broche (and that was litel nede)

That Troilus was, she yaf this Diomedes.”

(“And also a brooch (though there was little need), she gave to Diomede — the same brooch that once belonged to Troilus.”)

The Dream as the End of Love: Troilus laments at the end. He says,

“O lady myn Criseyde,

…………………………………….

Wher is your love, wher is your trouthe,”

(“O my lady Criseyde, where is your love now? 

Where is your faith and truth that you promised me?”)

After that, he becomes jealous of Diomedess. He wants to kill him. But he never hates Criseyde as a loyal lover. Troilus dies in battle at the hands of Achilles. His soul rises above the stars.

Thus, Troilus’s Boar dream is full of tragic prophecy. It joins heaven’s warning, love’s weakness, and human sorrow. Chaucer uses this dream to prepare readers for the final fall of Troilus. The fall of a heart that loved too deeply and trusted too much.

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Geoffrey Chaucer
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