Troilus and Cressida

Within the walls of Troy, Prince Troilus falls madly in love with Cressida, daughter of the deserter Calchas. His love is intense and frenetic--"I am giddy, expectation whirls round me," but turns to bitter disillusion when Cressida defects to the Greek camp and flirts with Diomedes. As the war and conflict over the abduction of Helen whirls around the doomed romance, the play delights in its complex syntax and cynical images of waste, decay, corruption and mutability, summed up in Ulysses' comment that, "Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all / To envious and calumniating time." The play's cynical open-ended quality has frustrated many readers, but gives the play a remarkably modern, contemporary sensibility. --Jerry Brotton

Troilus and Cressida is undoubtedly one of Shakespeare's most ambiguous, puzzling, and therefore most disconcerting plays. The complex and unsettling nature of the play is deliberate, and throughout, Shakespeare presents to us one universal society that we would rather not see. The subversion of the Trojan War which acts as a canvas of the play, is one such ploy to provoke us into thinking about the corruption and hypocrisy of Shakespeare's 16th century society. The great Greek storyteller Homer, first told the tale of the Trojan War in the Iliad and the Odyssey, depicting the warriors, both Greek and Trojans; Aeneas, Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Menelaus, Diomedes and Ulysses - as great heroes worthy of imitation. Shakespeare appears to depict them as quite human, vulgar, pompous and stupid. Shakespeare does not re-tell the story of this epic war and legendary struggle; his play apparently seems to conjure up a bitter and deflating account of the war. Troilus and Crssisda presents us a society driven by the want of immediate consumption and disloyalty both in terms of love and allegiance. However, it is up to us to decide whether any one character is able to rise above the foolish greed that surrounds them.

This Arden edition provides its' readers with a detailed yet very readable collection of notes, conveniently running along side the play. It also provides an extremely well written, yet not overwhelmingly profound group of introductory essays (perfect for the easygoing student). Troilus and Cressida may not officially be regarded as a 'great work' of Shakespeare, but it is thoroughly engaging despite its intricate plot, in my humble view it is most certainly - 'great' - and I would definitely recommend it to all. ENJOY!