Troilus and Cressida

What It's About

Set in the seventh year of the Greek siege of Troy, the play follows two stories. The young Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, and her uncle Pandarus eagerly brings them together. Their vows of constancy are soon tested when Cressida is traded to the Greek camp. Meanwhile, the Greek commanders quarrel among themselves, the warrior Achilles sulks in his tent, and a chivalrous challenge to the Trojan champion Hector turns a long war into a contest of vanity.

Key Concepts

The play strips the glamour from the legendary Trojan War, treating honour and heroism as vanity and appetite. It keeps asking what anything is truly worth: whether value lies in a thing itself or only in the esteem others give it. Time, reputation and faithfulness in love are set against a backdrop of corrosive cynicism, voiced most bitterly by the railing Thersites. Critics have long struggled to classify it, calling it a "problem play" because its tone shifts between satire, romance and tragedy. Its harsh view of both lovers and heroes divided audiences for centuries, and it is often considered one of the most modern-feeling plays of its period.

About the Author

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He worked as an actor and as a shareholder in a leading London theatre company, and is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.