[A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PLAY]
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA is set against the backdrop of the Trojan War and splits into two parts: the loves scenes and the military encampment scenes. We have 2 love stories going, Troilus & Cressida of course and also Paris and Helen. [There is a very nasty bit of business at one point where Paris is in on arranging "exchanging" Cressida for one of the prisoners. Doubly bad because he pretty much did it to keep from having to give Helen back when they were pressuring him to do so.] Cressida declares her undying love to Troilus, but she proves to be inconstant and fickle, pretty much as soon as she is out of his sight. Troilus find this out [the hard way] and revenges himself on her new lover. A lot of other people die too. This may sound flip, but that is the play!
Nobody that reads or see it, is going to confuse T&C with Hamlet. This is just not one of Shakespeare's best. Continuity in the play is provided by Thersites [the comic relief.] He has some pretty hilarious lines, but nobody else's lines stand out. There are a bunch of HUGE literary figures in the characters, like Priam, Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and Ulysses. But they mainly just fight among themselves [and the other camp] and one doesn't get a really good feel for who they were. What it is almost like is that Shakespeare thought the main good fun in the play was Thersites and he just kind of rushed through the others to get to the fun parts. [No points off for that!]
But ONE thing is REALLY interesting. THIS line in Act III, Sc II, Pandarus says:
"Nay, I'll give you word for her too: our kindred, though they be long ere they are wooed, they are constant being won: they are burs, I can tell you; they'll stick where they are thrown."
Compare it to this from White Devil from Act V, Sc I:
"In faith, you see, women are like to burs, where their affection throws them, there they'll stick.Are those two lines SIMILAR or what??! Not saying somebody COPIED the OTHER, but GOOD GRIEF are they similar!!
Last Updated: 6 January 2000
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