Of Criseyde

            It’s a difficult decision – should you follow blindly into a love affair of which you know nothing? Today, we would say no without a second thought, and the character of Criseyde would be perceived as, well, something of a trollop. But hers is a different time. In a city under siege, and a time when men went to war and women learned about waiting and fate and grief, one learns to take chances, to love and live in the moment because tomorrow may never come for you. Even more to the point, tomorrow may not come for someone else. Today we think so much; we must analyze and plan and act with caution to avoid the heartbreak we know is imminent. Why do we consider it so wonderful to stay wary? We've developed an awful connotation of the word 'mistake' to include an element of regret. Regret is wrong. It keeps us from moving on and from learning. Perhaps we will never fully realize that regret is a superfluous feeling that does not belong in our emotional vernacular (not to say that we should not recognize when we have done something wrong). But Criseyde lives not in this time, she exists in a world of battle, torn between two enemies, two classes, and two loves. And with Troy on the brink of collapse, she is running out of time.