Chaucer is known for his talent for pushing his readers outside of their preconceived notions regarding genre, characters, and themes. Additionally, Chaucer uses words with double meanings to create ambiguity and depth in his works. Troilus and Criseyde are no different in this regard. Throughout Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer uses the word "tender" repeatedly, using its various meanings to make the reader question the characters' intentions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay According to the Middle English Dictionary, the adjective form of “tender” has seven different meanings in medieval texts. Chaucer uses all but two of these meanings in Troilus and Criseyde. The meanings used by Chaucer are: “Immature, young; simple, innocent, naive; also without blemish, without blemish”; “Physically sensitive, especially to pain; susceptible to injury, vulnerable;...easily injured, fragile”; "Of a plant, part of a plant: fresh, newly cultivated; not hardy, delicate"; “Physically weak; weakened, weakened, morally weak, unable to resist temptation; equally impressionable”; “Painful, sincere; pitiful, painful, touching; (b) easily moved; of the heart: compassionate, sympathetic” (207-209). Chaucer uses the adjective form of "tender" five times in Troilus and Criseyde, and employs its different meanings throughout the text. Pandarus is the first to use this word in Book II: his train of thought during a discussion with Criseyde includes the word. He thinks: "If I finish my story/I become hard, or make a process in some way,/It will have no flavor but light,/And I would hire in my bigyle will ;/For tender minds when they are wyle/Theras can understand nothing fully; Forthi hires wit to serve all that I love" (267-273). Here, it seems that Chaucer wants the reader to see the word "tender" as meaning "naive", since the quote from Pandarus seems to indicate that she is too simple-minded to understand certain things However, this quote is an example in the text where Chaucer draws on the multiple meanings of the word to create depth It is important to remember that tender can. also mean "impressionable", as the fourth definition (above) shows Because it is Pandarus, who continually pressures Criseyde to act towards Troilus, who uses the word, it seems likely that Chaucer wishes. that the term be taken in both senses An additional ambiguity surrounding this particular use of the word is that "tender" in the sense of "naiveté" also indicates youth and innocence (as shown in the first definition listed above. ). Chaucer wants the reader to consider Criseyde in relation to these two terms. She is a widow, but she is also young. She is the woman who deceives Troilus and breaks his heart, but she is also innocent. Chaucer uses an ambiguous term to cause the reader to take a closer look at Criseyde's character. Pandarus also uses the word in Book III, during a discussion with Criseyde. Criseyde wants him to give Troilus a ring in his name, to which Pandarus responds: "This [man] is so kind and so tender of herte/That with his deeds he has made his sorrows disappear" (904- 905). The reader can interpret this word according to the second and fifth meanings listed above. Describing Troilus as tender suggests that he is “vulnerable,” “sad,” or “painful” (207-209). However, as.