Images of Love in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde The image of love created by Chaucer in Book I of "Troilus and Criseyde" is one that arouses pity rather than admiration. Yet, the poet professes to serve and celebrate the God of Love. Is the superficially motivated but all-consuming passion unleashed in Troilus intended to serve as a warning to other lovers or as a model? With the presence of numerous narrative interjections from the poet himself that suggest a method of interpretation, clearly some emphasis is placed on the audience's ability to learn from "The Double Sorwe of Troilus" (1). As a cautionary tale, though, perhaps Chaucer attempts to describe the paradoxes seemingly inseparable from the very concept of love, rather than wholeheartedly espousing a comprehensive notion of love. Troilus' love is initially based on physical appearance. Criseyde's beauty, we are led to believe, elicits an intensely emotional, perhaps even spiritual, response in Troilus. "And in return he looks into him, then he began to quyken / So great desire and such affection, / that in his arms...