José María Gutiérrez Arranz

Universidad de Alcalá de Henares

Chaucerian Fortune: Aliane Dea?

Fortune is one of the Classical myths which Chaucer uses more frequently in all his works. Although her characteristics were defined clearly by authors like Ovid or Plutarch (to whom chaucer feels indebted whenever he refers to her), Fortune appears with new features mainly taken from contemporary authors. From this point the question arises to what extent Chaucer allows the goddess to perform her genuine inner and outer traditional display or, otherwise, to what extent Fortune shows new meanings and exhibits a new philosophical or literary path in accordance with modern mythological perspectives which reflect the transformations demanded by the presence of a renewed audience and renewed cultural conditions.