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During the Trojan War, the young Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, helped by her uncle Pandarus, a go-between, but after one night together…
During the Trojan War, the young Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, helped by her uncle Pandarus, a go-between, but after one night together she is handed over to the Greeks in an exchange of prisoners, and Troilus watches her give herself to a Greek warrior. Around them the heroes of Homer appear in a bitter light: the sulking Achilles, the boastful Ajax, the scheming Ulysses with his great speech on order, and the foul-mouthed Thersites, who sees in the war nothing but 'wars and lechery'.
Context and significance
Written around 1602, the play is the darkest of Shakespeare's 'problem plays', a cynical view of love and heroism that has found many admirers in modern times. Chaucer had told the same story in his Troilus and Criseyde. Compare Homer's Iliad, and see Shakespeare's life.
About the author
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), born in Stratford-upon-Avon, actor, playwright and shareholder of a London company, wrote about thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets.