1602 - Troilus and Cressida – “Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing… Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is…”

1602 - Troilus and Cressida  – “Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing… Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is…”

After the ‘triumph’ of a complex play like ‘Hamlet’ it is possible that Shakespeare sat down in 1602 and decided to tackle a project he had been thinking of for a long time. He knew that Elizabethan audiences could accept plays that were complex in ideas characters and themes and now he wanted to challenge the boundaries of their understanding of dramatic style and form. 

The Globe Theatre was proving a financial and popular success and ‘Twelfth Night’ had been a triumph when it was revived there in May, June and July of 1602 along with ‘Hamlet’ and other plays. As the weather turned colder and The Globe closed its doors, Shakespeare’s mind turned to what new project he could premiere at an indoor venue in Winter at one of the inns or colleges inhabited and run by the lawyers in London. He was also probably thinking of making this new play easily transferable to The Globe and its more eclectic audience in May in the Summer of 1603. It is then that he probably burnt the late night candle with re-reading Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and Chaucer's fourteenth-century epic poem, Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer and the work of the Ancient Greeks were undergoing a revival in publishing at that time, yet strangely, not too many dramatic versions had made it to the stage and those that did were largely unsuccessful. It must have struck Shakespeare that these stories were absurdly tragic and romantic to the point of strangeness and Shakespeare knew that his audience would know the end of the story involving Cressida's treachery and Hector's death well. With a passion for the story in hand and a good idea of what an audience might expect and how to still challenge them, Shakespeare would have sat at his table sometime on a dark night in October 1602 and started writing the Prologue to one of his most strange and problematic of his plays - ‘Troilus and Cressida’.

Enter an actor dressed as a soldier, to deliver the Prologue. The well-known prelude to the Trojan War and the beginnings of the Trojan War are retold and the play’s events which take place in the seventh year of the war in Troy are revealed.

We enter the walls of the besieged city of Troy and encounter Troilus who claims he is unable to fight. No, not the Greeks, but the pain in his heart that comes from love for Pandarus's niece, Cressida. Cressida is not in everyone’s good books because her father, a priest in Troy, has already left the city and joined the Greeks). Pandarus says that he has been advocating for and praising Troilus to his niece for some time and complains that he doesn’t seem to have received much thanks for this. Pandarus leaves and Troilus complains that although Pandarus seems tetchy and moody, he knows that working with him is his best hope of winning Cressida’s love. Aeneas enters bringing the latest from the battlefield including the wounding of Paris. Troilus decides he better join his other Trojans on the battlefield.

We go forward in time a little to another part of Troy near one of the gates of the city and we encounter Cressida talking to a servant about how a Greek warrior had got the better of the great Trojan Prince Hector the day before and how this has spurred on Hector in this day’s battle. Pandarus enters and as the Trojan men return from the day’s battle and parade past them, Pandarus praises each one, but saves his greatest praise for Troilus. When Pandarus leaves we find out that Cressida in fact loves Troilus but she is enjoying his adoration of her and wants to hold off a little longer before outwardly showing her affections.

“But more in Troilus thousand fold I see

Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be;

Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:

Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.

That she beloved knows nought that knows not this:

Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is:

That she was never yet that ever knew

Love got so sweet as when desire did sue.

Therefore this maxim out of love I teach:

Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech:

Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear,

Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.”

We magically cross over the walls of Troy to the Greek encampment, where King Agamemnon is trying to rally some positive vibe amongst his fellow kings and generals who seem a little down (as you can only get after seven years of war and an unsuccessful siege). The old general Nestor, bucks up a bit and says that although they haven’t won, there have been some individual acts of heroics. Ulysses, astute man that he is, points out that it is not the fact that the war is long without a win that is their problem but the breakdown of authority amongst the Greeks caused by Achilles, their greatest soldier, sitting all day in his tent with his male lover refusing to fight and scoffing at others. Others like Ajax seem to have also been put off their game.

While they are discussing what to do, the Trojan Aeneas enters with a message and a challenge from the Trojan Prince Hector stating that he wants to challenge Greece’s greatest warrior in battle. The prize will be that the winner gets the loser’s wife. Agreeing to the challenge, the Greeks give food and lodging to Aeneas for the night and discuss who should accept the challenge. They know that the challenge is directed at Achilles, their greatest warrior, but they also know that if Achilles looses in battle that this would make their army’s morale go even lower. It is then that Ulysses comes up with the brilliant idea to put Ajax forward as the contender since if Ajax loses, then the Greeks can claim that Achilles would have won if he had put himself forward and this would also have the added plus of inflaming the proud Achilles because he, the obvious and best choice, had seen Ajax chosen before he was chosen. This they believe will be enough to make Achilles once more join the battlefield. Nestor praises the cunning of Ulysses’ plan:

“Ulysses,

Now I begin to relish thy advice;

And I will give a taste of it forthwith

To Agamemnon: go we to him straight.

Two curs shall tame each other: pride alone

Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone.”

Troilus and Cressida Act Two – “The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue!”

 If Act One of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ gives a sense of the war and gives us intricate insights into the relationships between people on the Trojan side, most of the action in Act Two takes place in the Greek camp, and gives us a sense of how Achilles’ arrogance and pride undermines the Greek cause and their ability to act effectively.

 We start with Ajax who orders his slave Thersites to find out what the proclamation which has been put up states. Not only does Thersites refuse to obey his master, but he throws curses at Ajax until Achilles and Patroclus enter and he curses them too. Thersites is dismissed and Achilles reveals the nature of Hector's proclamation and challenge and reveals that the Greek challenger will be selected by a lottery. Achilles also arrogantly states that if there was not a lottery that he would have been the only choice.

 We cross over the walls into the city of Troy, where we hear the Trojan’s having some second thoughts about continuing the war. King Priam and his sons wonder if it would be better just to return Helen to the Greeks. Hector, states that taking Helen may have been bold and brave initially but he questions whether the Trojans should continue to pay the price in blood. Then Cassandra (Priam’s daughter and fraternal twin to Prince Helenus) enters and, seeming almost mad in her behaviour, prophesizes that:

“Cry, Trojans, cry! practise your eyes with tears!

Troy must not be, nor goodly lion stand;

Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all.

Cry. Trojans, cry! A Helen and a woe:

Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go."

When Cassandra exits, Troilus and others cast off her premonitions as madness and start to argue that the war is now a matter of Trojan honour. Paris supports this (he would of course) while Hector retorts that young men are not subject to reason but are too much driven by "…the hot passion of distempered blood...” Eventually Troilus reinforces the notion that this war is now no longer about Helen but about Trojan honour. Hector concedes and talks of the proclamation and challenge that he sent out that should draw Achilles into combat and the battlefield.

 We cross back over the wall to the Greek encampment where Thersites rails against the arrogance and pretension of Achilles and Ajax. The entrance of Patroclus and Achilles is met by more distain as he calls them fools. Achilles is able to contain Patroclusand stop him from attacking Thersites. When Achilles sees Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Diomedes and Ajax entering, he retires into his tent.

Agamemnon has by now, lost patience with Achilles and refuses to believe Achilles is ill and asks Ulysses to bring Achilles out to fight the Trojans. Ulysses sees this as an insult to Ajax (who is a very good fighter and ready to fight for the cause) and Ulysses proceeds to praise Ajax upholding him as the best of their Greek soldiers. They leave Achilles inside his tent and decide that Ajax will be their challenger to Hector.Then other Greek commanders, praises Ajax profusely, saying that he is the best of their warriors. They agree to leave Achilles in his tent, and decide that Ajax will be their champion face Hector the next day although Agamemnon’s final words reveal his sense that all will not run smoothly:

"...Let Achilles sleep:

Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep."

Troilus and Cressida Act Three – “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

It is hard to tell who the true antagonist is in ‘Troilus and Cressida’. At first Achilles seems like the obvious choice but then Ulysses is so masterly written like a subtle villain in the play. But to these two later.

Act Three starts with love and Pandarus who is trying to get an audience with Paris. When Paris and Helen enter, Pandarus praises her and asks Paris to makes excuses for Troilus coming to dinner that night with Priam. Paris and Helen pry out of him that the reason for this is that Troilus is going to try to woo Cressida that very night. Pandarus leaves to find Troilus.

Pandarus finally finds Troilus in an orchard and takes Troilus anxious with anticipation to Cressida. When Pandarus leaves, Troilus and Cressida express their love for one another. They make a love pact and then leave to seal their love in other ways.

Like a Greek tragedy, fate seems to be working against the lovers Troilus and Cressida for in the Greek camp Cressida's father, Calchas, is making a deal for the captured Trojan leader Antenor, which involves his daughter being given to Agamemnon and the Greeks.

Meanwhile, Ulysses gets all of the Greek leaders to go past Achilles’s tent and hardly acknowledge him. This infuriates Achillles who goes to Ulysses to ask him the reason for this snub and Ulysses says that Ajax is the man of the moment. Ulysses also cunningly reveals that he knows that Achilles is in love with a Trojan princess and he suggests that Achilles stop playing with love and try to restore his honour on the battlefield.

“Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love

With one of Priam's daughters…

All the commerce that you have had with Troy

As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord;

And better would it fit Achilles much

To throw down Hector than Polyxena:

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,

When fame shall in our islands sound her trump,

And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,

'Great Hector's sister did Achilles win,

But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.'

Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;

The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.

As Ulysses goes, realizes that that his "reputation is at stake" and on hearing that Ajax is walking around the Greek camp like a peacock puffed up with false pride, Achilles gets Patroclus to send a slave to persuade Ajax to take Hector to Achilles's tent after their fight the next day, so that Achilles and Hector may have a private word or two. The plot thickens.

Troilus and Cressida Act Four – “The end crowns all, and that old common arbitrator, Time, will one day end it.”

The Wheels of Fate start to turn in Act Four of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ when Diomedes arrives in Troy to collect Cressida for the Greeks in exchange for the return of Antenor to the Trojans. Both Aeneas and Paris know that Troilus will be devastated by this exchange but feel that the exchange is necessary. While Aeneas goes to get Cressida, Paris asks Diomedes who he thinks deserves Helen more him (Paris) or Menelaus. Diomedes says: “Both alike:

He merits well to have her, that doth seek her,

Not making any scruple of her soilure,

With such a hell of pain and world of charge…

Both merits poised, each weighs nor less nor more;

But he as he, the heavier for a whore…

She's bitter to her country: hear me, Paris:

For every false drop in her bawdy veins

A Grecian's life hath sunk; for every scruple

Of her contaminated carrion weight,

A Trojan hath been slain: since she could speak,

She hath not given so many good words breath

As for her Greeks and Trojans suffer'd death.”

We switch to a scene vaguely reminiscent of the morning after Romeo and Juliet’s marriage where, as the first light of morning breaks, Troilus is leaving Cressida after a night’s lovemaking. Pandarus enters and makes crude jokes about Troilus and Cressida’s lovemaking. Suddenly Aeneas enters and delivers the news to Troilus that Cressida’s father has traded Cressida to the Greeks and Troilus is devastated. Cressida breaks into tears when she hears the news.

Later, Troilus is allowed to say goodbye to Cressida and they promise to be faithful to one another. When Diomedes enters Troilus insists that Cressida is to be treated well but Diomedes replies that “… to her own worth, she shall be prized…”  A trumpet sounds which signals the beginning of Hector and Ajax’s fight.

We jump forward in time and go over to the Greek camp when Cressida is arriving. Ulysses demands that Cressida great and kiss all the Greek Generals but states that he will only kiss her “… When Helen is a maid again…” inferring Cressida is a whore.

As the Trojans enter the terms of Ajax and Hector’s battle are announced. As Ajax and Hector prepare for their fight, Agamemnon asks Ulysses " who the downcast-looking Trojan is and Ulysses points out that it is Troilus and then he praises the battle prowess of Troilus which he thinks is even greater than Hector’s.

The fight between Ajax and Hector begins but after some time it is decided that the battle is a draw and Hector and Ajax embrace. Hector is then led into a Greek tent for Achilles to talk to him. Hector brings Troilus with him. Achilles and Hector insult one another and Hector says that he will look forward to seeing Achilles on the field of battle. The visiting Trojans are taken by the Greeks to dinner and as they leave Troilus questions Ulysses about where the tent of Calchas is (since Troilus aims to visit his love Cressida). Ulysses replies that he will take Troilus there but mentions that Diomedes has been eyeing off Cressida with lust for quite a while. 

Troilus and Cressida Act Five – “The error of our eye directs our mind:

What error leads must err…”

What is so amazing about ‘Troilus and Cressida’ is the way that Shakespeare is able to combine comedy and satire with the most tragic and bleak of endings to paint a picture of love and power done with wit, strength and irony. ‘Troilus and Cressida’ shows us a portrait of the corrupt and artificial world of men at war while satirising everything from attitudes to war and military glory to romantic love and sex.

Act Five of the play starts near the end of a feast and Achilles is seen bragging to Patroclus about how he will easily kill Hector the very next day. Then Thersites enters and throws his usual round of abuse on Achilles and Patroclus and on both Greeks and Trojans, and delivers a letter from Achilles’ Trojan Princess who pleads with Achilles not to fight the next day. After all his bragging, Achilles decides to follow his love’s wishes. As they exit we see Diomedes as he goes off to visit Cressida, although he is secretly followed by Troilus and Ulysses. Thersites decides to spy on Diomedes and the others.

Diomedes calls for Cressida and Cressida’s father goes to get her while Troilus and Ulysses secretly watch (and Thersites secretly watches everyone). Cressida is wooed by Diomedes and although she doesn’t encourage him, she doesn’t dismiss him straight away and even gives Diomedes a love token in the form of a sleeve that Troilus gave her. Cressida ends the conversation by telling Diomedes to go but then she agrees to see him again and be open to the possibilities. Troilus judges her as unfaithful for this but Shakespeare has Cressida end her scene with an indication of her inner turmoil not seen or heard by Troilus:

“Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,

The error of our eye directs our mind:

What error leads must err; O, then conclude

Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude.”

When Cressida and Diomedes have gone, Troilus is in agony, and then vows to kill Diomedes on the battlefield. They leave to go back to Troy to prepare for the next day.

Also back in Troy, Hector is preparing for a fight despite the pleas of his wife Andromache and sister Cassandra who have both had dreams predicting Hector’s death. Hector dismisses their pleas:

“Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:

Lie every man holds dear; but the brave man

Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.”

Troilus enters and states that he also will be fighting today and says to Hector:

“Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,

Which better fits a lion than a man…

When many times the captive Grecian falls,

Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,

You bid them rise, and live….

For the love of all the gods,

Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers,

And when we have our armours buckled on,

The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords,

Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.”

Hector pleads with Troilus to not fight today but Troilus replies:

“Who should withhold me?

Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars

Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;

Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,

Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;

Not you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,

Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,

But by my ruin.”

Cassandra brings back Priam who also asks his son not to fight since he also feels this day will end badly but Hector pleas and goes out to battle. Just after this, Pandarus brings a letter from Cressida to Troilus who tears up Cressida’s letter before he also enters the field of battle.

On the battlefield, everyone’s fate is individual. Troilus, of course, fights Diomedes mono on mono. Thersites escapes the battlefield due to being a coward. Then we see that the Trojans drive back the Greeks and Agamemnon orders the dead body of Patroclus to be laid before Achilles, to make Achilles enter the battle. Achilles and Hector fight against one another for a while but then they break off. Hector decides to keep fighting Greeks while Achilles goes to find his men. With his men in tow, Achilles goes back to find Hector and they gang up on Hector, stab him to death. “Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek. (Hector falls)

So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down!

Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.

On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain,

'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.”

They then attach his body to a chariot and dragged Hector’s body around the outside of the walls of Troy.

Troilus leads the Trojans back into Troy with the news of Hector’s death. “Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead:

There is a word will Priam turn to stone;

Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,

Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word,

Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away…

Strike a free march to Troy! with comfort go:

Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.”

As they leave, Troilus encounters Pandarus who he curses:

“Hence, broker-lackey! ignomy and shame

Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name!”

Pandarus is left alone on stage and ends the play bemoaning the way he was once wanted and is now berated:

“A goodly medicine for my aching bones! O world!

world! world! thus is the poor agent despised!

O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set

a-work, and how ill requited! why should our

endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed…

It should be now, but that my fear is this,

Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:

Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases,

And at that time bequeathe you my diseases.”

And this is the end of the play. So ‘Troilus and Cressida’ is a thoroughly modern almost existential play. We are not given a happy, moral or heroic ending. We are left with disappointment and disillusion as Shakespeare shakes our preconceptions about love, war and heroes.

Shakespeare returns in:

‘Measure for Measure’ where  Shakespeare examines whether or not morality can or should be legislated.