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What is the plot of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde?

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Troilus and Criseyde is a tragic verse romance by Geoffrey Chaucer composed in the 1380s, with a plot largely derived from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il filostrato.12

Set against the backdrop of the Trojan War, the poem follows the love story of Troilus, a son of the Trojan king Priam, and Criseyde, the widowed daughter of the deserter priest Calchas. With the assistance of Criseyde’s uncle Pandarus, the two are united in love halfway through the narrative.12

However, Criseyde is subsequently sent to the Greek camp to join her father. Despite promising to return, she eventually gives her love to the Greek warrior Diomedes. Left in despair, Troilus is ultimately killed in the war. The poem is noted for its psychological insight and its integration of Boethian discussions regarding free will and determinism. It concludes by contrasting the folly of total immersion in sexual love with the eternal love of God as Troilus’s soul ascends to the heavens.12