The story begins with the days leading up to April 12, 1385, as Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war, have planned an affair.
He burst hastily through the palace gates, while Venus and Mars are still in the bed chambers, and shined his light on the situation.
Though fate had determined that the two lovers would never be together, Mars was forced to follow Venus slowly, as she fled to avoid confronting Phebus.
Chaucer instead uses this time to declare the pain Mars is experiencing and, rather than expecting a remedy, expects to declare the grounds for the heaviness he is feeling:The ordre of compleynt requireth skylfully That yf a wight shal pleyne pitously, Ther mot be cause wherfore that men pleyne; Or men may deme he pleyneth folily And causeles; alas, that am not I. Wherfore the ground and cause of al my peyne, So as my troubled wit may hit atteyne, I wol reherse; not for to have redresse, But to declare my ground of hevynesse.
Sometimes, Mars claims, ladies have no pity on the men that they leave behind, as jealousy engulfs them and they begin to devote themselves to death.
Women cannot please anyone, as Mars believes only the false lover has any comfort since love does not actually exist except to cause distress.
While people can only be hurt by heartbreak, Mars sees that the joy of love lasts for only the split second that an eye twinkles.
Mars continues to marvel that God would create such a cruelty that would either break His people, causing more sorrow than the moon changes.
He claims that Venus and the brooch are both precious, rarely found in nature, and so beautiful that they grip the heart of any man that lays their eyes upon them.
Men must not be greatly disappointed in beauty, bounty, courtesy and never deeply regret women who were ever held dear.
When Phoebus breaks up the unexpecting couple's love affair, astronomically the sun had entered the house of Taurus as well, literally shining its rays on the planets.
Adaptations of Roman myths were popular amongst many authors of the Middle Ages, and Chaucer wrote several poems in this vein, like The Complaint of Mars.
Some of the most notable of her partners are the human Adonis (who was killed by a boar), the mortal Anchises, Bacchus, Mars, and a number of other Roman gods.
At once he forged a net, a mesh of thinnest links of bronze, too fine for eye to see, a triumph not surpassed by finest threads of silk or by the web the spider hands below the rafters' beam.
Instead Vulcan, infuriated, creates a net to trap the couple when he eventually catches the pair in bed together:When Vulcanus [Hephaistos] knew that Venus [Aphrodite] was secretly lying with Mars [Ares], and that he could not oppose his strength, he made a chain of adamant and put it around the bed to catch Mars by cleverness.
In Chaucer's interpretation of the tale, which is rooted in the movement of the planets more so than the actions of the gods, Vulcan's absence does not change the narrative of the story too much.
"[8] Not only are instances such as these documenting the poem's romantic significance, but the text itself alludes to Saint Valentine and his holiday.
There are several allegories that signify that The Complaint of Mars is a Valentine's Day poem, such as the references to fouls, or birds.
In the beginning of the poem, Chaucer makes clear reference to birds and their connection to love in lines (1–4) and (13–14):"Gladeth, ye foules of the morowe gray!
————— "Seynt Valentyne, a foul thus herde I synge Upon thy day, er sonne gan up-sprynge.
[7] Chaucer did not employ this bird allergy only in The Complaint of Mars, but also his other romantic poem Parlement of Foules, which was often read on Saint Valentine's.