In Love Visions, Chaucer uses the medieval tradition of dream exposition to comment on the social attraction to idealized love in a subset of medieval literature. Throughout the first three poems, Chaucer skillfully parodies social norms: his exaggerated descriptions and overly dramatic characters provide subtle hints about the poems' ultimate goal. The last poem, The Legend of Good Women, takes Chaucer's warning about superficial love presented in many books of his time even further. In this final poem, Chaucer not only rejects that the love praised in the legends is truly love, but asserts that the only true love comes from God. Through his meticulously crafted vision of love, Chaucer asks readers to abandon their worldly perceptions of love and of looking to God for authentic, satisfying and perfect love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Legend of the Good Women begins much like Chaucer's other poems in Love Visions: a lovesick Chaucer falls asleep and has a dream. When he awakens in the world of dreams, the God of Love and Alcestis, his queen, approach him. The God of Love is furious with Chaucer because he "[lied] about [the God of Love's] devotees / He misrepresented them in [his] translation" (lines 249-250). The God of Love feels cheated of his followers and goes so far as to call Chaucer's work in the earlier poems "heresy" (256). This background provides the basis for Chaucer's commentary on this false love. Beginning with his initial encounter with the God of Love, Chaucer the poet establishes a clear parallel between the God of Love in vision and God the Father in reality. He uses religious terms when speaking about the God of Love, who describes his followers as having a “love of purity and justice” (297). Alcestis also refers to the ballads that Chaucer wrote as "hymns to the [God of Love] for the holy days" (410). The language used in the conversation between the God of Love, Alcestis, and Chaucer, closely resembles the language used in accounts of the Christian God and his relationship with his followers. Furthermore, the whole situation is reminiscent of the traditional Christian belief about the Day of Judgment. . Chaucer is placed before the God of Love and must listen as his sinful deeds on earth are recounted before a host of witnesses (230-231). However, this allusion is intended to be ironic. The God of Love, in this poem, is the dream world equivalent to God the Father, while Alcestis takes on the role of Jesus Christ. Beyond the setting and rhetoric of the god and his queen, however, the nature of the God of Love and Alcestis are flawed attempts to reach the standard of divinity established by the Christian God. The God of Love seems to lack all the qualities that God the Father embodies: omniscience, justice, and patience are noticeably absent from the character of the God of Love. He is known for his blindness of judgment and is easily angered when he meets Chaucer (169). The disparity between the God of Love and God the Father widens further when Alcestis rebukes the God of Love for treating Chaucer so harshly. Alcestis reminds the God of Love that he “hears many made-up stories” and tells him to consider that “perhaps this man has been falsely accused” (327, 338). This reveals some of the disturbing characteristics of the God of Love. Mainly, Alcestis' statement shows that the God of Love cannot discriminate between truth and lies. If he has been deceived by lies in the past, it is not inconceivable that he has judged incorrectly in the past. Hissame warning also implies that the God of Love is inept. An omniscient and perfect god should not need re-education in how he should act. In the same speech, Alcestis advises the God of Love to grant grace to Chaucer at the expense of his righteousness. He proposes that the God of Love “show some grace/Repel [his] fury and show a gentle face” (396-397). The God of Love then entrusts the task of carrying out the judgment to Alcestis (439-443). In just a few lines, the credibility of the God of Love has significantly diminished. The God of Love is neither just nor upright in his decisions, and he shirks his responsibility when the decision becomes difficult. In the opening pages of the poem, Chaucer shows that the God of Love cannot be trusted. Although Alcestis intercedes on Chaucer's behalf, she too fails to live up to the expectations set by the God of reality. The events involving Christ and Alcestis are comparable: out of love, Alcestis took the place of her husband and “chose to die,” and was eventually elevated to a glorified position alongside the God of Love (500-505). However, the comparison ends here. Alcestis gives the God of Love poor advice and offers a grace that comes with a price. He warns Chaucer: “You have gained your favor; hold fast to it,” before explaining Chaucer's penance for his sin (468). In his warning, Alcestis makes it clear that the grace granted to Chaucer depends on his ability to fulfill his request, not on his own nature or some superordinate power. Like the God of Love, Alcestis gets less than what her title grants her. Though he praises Alcestis for her virtues, the God of Love demands that Chaucer "write the legend of this perfect wife / Before it. write others of an inferior brand" ( 539-540). It is strange that to achieve the God of Love's goal of gaining followers and showing people on earth the nature of love, the God of Love does not want Chaucer write of the exemplifier of this love, Alcestis, who he says “taught what perfect love should always do” (534). Instead, he tells Chaucer to write about women who imitated but not quite reached maturity in love with Alcestis. Because of this, the God of Love actually gives Chaucer a mission with inadequate evidence of his version of love. It is no wonder, then, that Chaucer's stories of martyrs for love leave much to be desired. Chaucer's way of telling the stories of the martyrs is hollow and devoid of resonance. Chaucer simply tells the stories of these women in a way that will please the God of Love. He alters some stories to paint the women in a better light, although he states that "this is not a tale or a fairy tale" (702). When he talks about Dido and Aeneas, he doesn't mention that Dido broke her vow to her late husband by having an affair with Aeneas, and he glosses over the fact that Cupid tricked Dido into falling in love, saying, "be that as it may/I don't it matters what those ancient writings say” (1145-1146). The legends seem hasty in their conclusions, with Chaucer telling the reader to refer to another text for the rest of the story or briefly warning against the falsehood of men. These endings make Chaucer seem disinterested, as if he had no real change in heart after his encounter with the God of Love. Rather, it seems that Chaucer is using these stories to further destroy the ethics of the God of Love these legends, Chaucer writes representing the God of Love, but adds details that suggest otherwise. Within the stories he makes strange comments about the Christian God and interprets biblical verses out of context. When speaking of Dido's beauty, Chaucer states: "Our God,.