Morpheus's Dwelling

The alternative versions of the story of Ceyx and Alcyone reveal many of Chaucer's aberrations from the traditional tale. Aside from the ending in which the two lovers are immortalized as birds, another stark difference is the scene in which Iris (or the Messenger) arrives at Morpheus's dwelling. The first contrast is the description of his lair: whereas the earlier versions call it "marvelously beautiful" (Machaut, line 595) or just plain "merveilous" (Gower line 2990), Chaucer describes it as a "derke valey" (line 155) with a cave "as derk / As helle pit overal aboute" (lines 170-1). It is strange that Chaucer decides to transform what others describe as quite a dream-like location with a babbling stream (Ovid p. 163) to a dark, dank cave.

The second stark contrast, as Clemen notes, is the language of Iris the Messenger. Whereas in Machaut, Iris is "gentle" and "charming," and addresses Morpheus with "polished" and "elegant" speech, in Chaucer, the Messenger's speech "has an everyday, colloquial quality, at times even rough and drastic" (Clemen p. 35). But Iris is not only more formal in Machuat; in Ovid, she is similarly eloquent, as she addresses Morephus with various epithets ("mildest of the gods, balm of the soul, who puttest care to flight soothest our bodies worn with hard ministries, and preparest them for toil again!" [Ovid, p. 165]).

Why would Chaucer rewrite these scenes so differently? As Clemen surmises, perhaps Chaucer's more colloquial and urgent speech "makes his narration seem not only livelier, more 'true to life', but also more keenly personal" (p. 35). It also definitely adds drama: between the urgent speech and the fearful description of Morpheus's lair, the Messenger seems much more brave and the task more daunting. Since Chaucer was likely to be reading his Book of the Duchess aloud, these changes serve quite well to increase the drama and make the tale more interesting and gripping to an audience.