Henryson, Robert | Carol A. Cole (essay date August 1997)
Carol A. Cole (essay date August 1997)
SOURCE: Cole, Carol A. “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid.” Michigan Academian XXIX, no. 4 (August 1997): 511-20.
[In the essay below, Cole argues that the narrator plays a significant role in The Testament of Cresseid as he, like Cresseid, seeks personal fulfillment in sexual gratification.]
Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid has prompted many interpretations. Some see it as a “tragedie” of various sorts, in keeping with Henryson's own label in line 4. Others, such as Tillyard, view it as a treatment of sin, divine punishment, and repentance. More recently the Testament has been seen as a “getting of wisdom” poem, in which Cresseid “moves slowly and erratically towards a moment of self-knowledge.” Not surprisingly, most critical attention has focused on Cresseid; the narrator generally has been seen as a...
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