Super Short Summary

The Legend of Good Women by Geoffrey Chaucer is a dream vision poem that recounts the stories of ten historical and mythical women who are martyred for love, including Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis, and Hypermnestra. Chaucer, accused of disrespecting women in his earlier works, is guided by Alceste to honor these women through tales of their fidelity in love. Some stories depict sexual violence and self-harm.