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T
roilus and Cressida is a play
about war and lust. Thought
of as a problem play with
an intellectual tone, it is challenging
to read and to perform. In the 17th
century, English poet John Dryden
claimed that the play was a “heap
of rubbish,” while modern responses
tend to focus on the bitterness of
the characters. Critic A. D. Nuttall
called it a “sick, clever play.”
The play is based on an epic
tale of legendary men including
Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Ulysses,
Paris, and Menelaus. Shakespeare,
however, challenges the reputations
of these figures by deconstructing
the idea of a “hero.” Paris is a vain
and selfish youth, Achilles a love-
sick rebel, Ajax a witless brute, and
Menelaus a cuckold and a laughing
stock. Troilus, a great warrior, is a
melancholy lover, motivated entirely
by his infatuation with Cressida.
The only symbol of heroism is
Hector, who longs to face a worthy
hero. However, Hector is murdered
by Achilles’s men while unarmed.
With these amorous, apathetic, and
dishonorable soldiers, Shakespeare
satirizes heroism in war.TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
To add to this dearth of honor,
the original cause of the crisis is a
woman who barely seems worth
the effort. The characters spend
three acts debating Helen’s virtue
and the purpose of keeping her in
Troy at the expense of soldiers’
lives. When Helen appears finally
in Act 3, she speaks little and
makes exclamations about love-
sickness: “Let thy song be love.
‘This love will undo us all.’ / O
Cupid, Cupid, Cupid!” (3.1.106–107).
These are not the words of a
woman for whom thousands of
Trojans and Greeks have sacrificed
their lives. Helen and Paris
represent the lecherous, selfish
nature of love in this corrupt Troy.
Helen’s infidelity to her husband
and decadent behavior with Paris
also mirror Cressida’s disloyalty to
Troilus. As Thersites reminds the
audience, the world is filled with
nothing but “Lechery, lechery, still /
wars and lechery!” (5.2.196–197).IN CONTEXT
THEMES
Lust, war, betrayal,
honor, heroismSETTING
Troy, 12th century BCESOURCES
1598 The Iliad, Homer’s epic
poem of the Trojan Wars,
translated into English by
George Chapman.1385–86 Troilus and Criseyde
by English poet Geoffrey
Chaucer.1460–1500 The Testament of
Cresseid by Scottish poet
Robert Henryson, an imagined
sequel to Chaucer’s tale.LEGACY
1609 The play is described
in the Quarto as a comedy.1679 English poet John
Dryden revises the play so
that the lovers die along with
Diomedes, and Cressida is
faithful to Troilus.1898 Shakespeare’s version
is staged in Munich, the first
known performance anywhere
since Shakespeare’s time.1938 The play is staged in
London by Michael Macowan
as a work of anti-war
propaganda, with Thersites
as a cynical war reporter.2012 Two acting companies
perform the play at Stratford.
The RSC play the Greeks and
a New York-based company
play the Trojans. The contrast
in styles highlights cultural
differences between the sides.Women are angels, wooing;
Things won are done. Joy’s
soul lies in the doing.
That she beloved knows
naught that knows not this:
Men price the thing ungained
more than it is.
Cressida
Act 1, Scene 2In a 2009 production at the Globe,
London, Laura Pyper played Cressida as
a teenager in the process of discovering
herself and working out how to survive
in a world of men and war.