ACT 4 SCENE 4

  Pandarus urges Cressida to “be moderate,” but she argues that her grief is “full” and she cannot lessen it. Troilus arrives and the lovers embrace. Even Pandarus is moved beyond his usual coarseness as Troilus reiterates his love for Cressida and blames the gods for taking her from him. Aeneas calls and Troilus sends Pandarus to stall him, promising to bring Cressida “anon.” Troilus tells Cressida that there is “no remedy”: she must go. He urges her to be “true of heart” and they exchange tokens; she gives him a glove, and he gives her a sleeve. Troilus promises to bribe the Greek guards and visit her at night, and once again asks her to “be true.” Cressida feels that he doubts her fidelity, but Troilus claims that he is just jealous of the “Grecian youths.” Aeneas and Paris call once more, and arrive as Troilus assures Cressida of his own fidelity. Troilus urges Diomedes to “Entreat her fair” and “use her well,” an ambiguous statement that foreshadows future events and emphasizes Cressida’s role as a sexual commodity. Troilus accompanies Diomedes and Cressida to the city gate. As they leave, a trumpet sounds to announce Hector’s challenge to Ajax, and Paris and Aeneas hurry to watch.

  ACT 4 SCENE 5

  Lines 1–71: At the Greek camp, Ajax prepares for combat. As the trumpet sounds again, Diomedes approaches with Cressida. The Greek leaders take it in turns to kiss Cressida (ostensibly in welcome, but the episode has sexual overtones and Cressida’s recognizably direct and witty approach could be perceived as flirtatious). Menelaus sadly comments that he “had a good argument for kissing once,” reminding us again of the events that began the whole conflict, and creating a possible parallel between Helen (who has been represented ambiguously as both victim and “whore”) and Cressida. As Diomedes takes Cressida to her father, Nestor praises her as “a woman of quick sense,” while Ulysses describes her as “wanton” and “sluttish.”

  Lines 72–174: The Trojan leaders arrive with great ceremony. Aeneas tries to establish the terms of combat, and points out that Hector and Ajax are related, so Hector will be more lenient. Diomedes returns and Agamemnon instructs him to agree upon terms with Aeneas. As Hector and Ajax prepare to fight, Agamemnon observes Troilus, who “looks so heavy,” and Ulysses tells him of Troilus’ great reputation. Hector and Ajax fight, then break away. Ajax offers to fight again, but Hector refuses on the grounds of their kinship. In a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion to the long-awaited fight, they embrace instead, and Ajax, backed by the Greek leaders, invites Hector back to the Grecian camp. Hector accepts, sending Aeneas to fetch Troilus.

  Lines 175–319: In contrast to their reception of Cressida, the Greek generals greet Hector with admiration and courtesy. They exchange civilities, praising each other’s heroism and temporarily setting aside their differences. Only Achilles behaves with hostility, threatening to “destroy” Hector. Ajax intervenes and Hector and Achilles agree to be “calm” until they meet on the battlefield the next day and Agamemnon invites them all to a feast. Troilus asks Ulysses where he might find Calchas. Ulysses replies that Calchas is dining with Diomedes in Menelaus’ tent that night, adding that Diomedes “gives all gaze and bent of amorous view / On the fair Cressid.” Troilus asks to be taken there after the feast.

  ACT 5 SCENE 1

  Thersites brings Achilles a letter from Troy. Patroclus and Thersites trade insults as Achilles reads his letter. Achilles reveals that it is from Hecuba, containing a token from Polyxena reminding him of his oath not to fight. Reluctantly, he declares that he will keep his vow. He leaves with Patroclus, calling Thersites to follow to prepare his tent for the feasting. Thersites begins another lengthy curse against them both, as well as Agamemnon and Menelaus, when the party of Greeks, with Hector, arrive looking for Achilles’ tent. Achilles himself comes out to greet them. Agamemnon and Menelaus excuse themselves, as does Diomedes. As Achilles, Hector, Ajax, and Nestor go with Achilles, Ulysses quietly tells Troilus to follow Diomedes, offering to accompany him. Thersites, who has been watching all this time, decides to follow them.

  ACT 5 SCENE 2

  Lines 1–131: Diomedes arrives at Calchas’ tent and asks for Cressida. Troilus and Ulysses arrive and conceal themselves to watch the meeting, as does Thersites. Cressida greets Diomedes as her “sweet guardian,” and, as he whispers to her, says that he is a “Sweet honey Greek” who “tempts” her. Troilus’ asides reveal his despair at her familiarity, while Thersites’ comments are more directly damning of Cressida’s morality. Ulysses tries to persuade Troilus to leave, but he remains. As they watch, Cressida agrees to become Diomedes’ lover. He asks for a token in “surety of it,” and she goes to fetch one, returning with Troilus’ sleeve. Diomedes asks who it belonged to, and Cressida has a change of heart, telling Diomedes that she will not meet with him, and asking him not to visit her again. Diomedes asks again whose sleeve it is, and when Cressida will not tell, he declares that he will wear it in battle the next day. As he goes to leave, she capitulates, telling him that he can come to her again. Once Diomedes has left, Cressida, unaware that Troilus can hear her, bids him “farewell,” blaming her defection on the weakness of her sex. Thersites comments that Cressida has now proved that she is a “whore.”

  Lines 132–217: Ulysses tries to persuade Troilus to leave, but he is stunned, refusing to believe what he has just seen. He declares that he will kill Diomedes in battle and cries out against “false Cressid!” As Ulysses urges him to be calm, Aeneas arrives with the news that Hector has already returned to Troy and that Troilus must also leave. Ulysses accompanies him to the gate, leaving Thersites to comment that there is nothing but “wars and lechery,” an apposite reflection of the events of the play.

  ACT 5 SCENE 3

  Andromache urges Hector not to go into battle, claiming that she has had “ominous” dreams of “bloody turbulence.” They are joined by Cassandra, who agrees with Andromache, but Hector insists on fighting for the sake of honor. As Troilus enters, Andromache sends Cassandra to fetch Priam. Hector urges his younger brother not to fight, promising to stand for both of them, but Troilus criticizes Hector for his “vice of mercy” and the compassion he shows to his opponents. He declares that they should go to war without pity and declares his intention to fight. Cassandra returns with Priam, who adds his pleas to those of Andromache and Cassandra, reiterating that both women have had dreams and visions about the day’s potential tragedy. Hector insists that he will fight, despite Cassandra’s prophecies, and goes to join the battle. Alone, Troilus declares bitterly that he will retrieve his sleeve from Diomedes. Pandarus brings a letter from Cressida, which Troilus dismisses as “mere words, no matter from the heart.”

  ACT 5 SCENE 4

  The remainder of the play comprises brief, frantic scenes, highlighting the pace and confusion of the battle.

  Still cursing everything, Thersites watches as Troilus and Diomedes meet. They exit, fighting, as Hector enters. He challenges Thersites, demanding to know if he is “of blood and honour,” but Thersites insists that he is merely a “knave” and Hector leaves him. Thersites, continuing in his role of observer, declares that he will find Diomedes and Troilus, “the wenching rogues,” and watch their fight.

  ACT 5 SCENE 5

  Diomedes sends his servant to Cressida with Troilus’ horse, and the message that he has “chastised the amorous Trojan” and is now her knight by “proof” of combat. Agamemnon enters, calling for reinforcements and listing the dead and wounded, which include Patroclus. Nestor tells some soldiers to take Patroclus’ body to Achilles. He describes how there seem to be “a thousand Hectors in the field” as the Trojan is everywhere, fighting hard. Ulysses enters, bringing the news that Patroclus’ death has “roused” Achilles’ “drowsy blood,” and that Ajax is fiercely “Roaring for Troilus.” Ajax enters briefly, looking for Troilus, followed by Achilles, furiously searching for Hector.

  ACT 5 SCENE 6

  Ajax and Diomedes meet, both looking for Troilus, who arrives looking for Diomedes. As Ajax and Diomedes argue about who will fight him, Troilus attacks them both and all three exit, fighting. Hector enters in time to see them leave and praises Troilus’ skills. Achilles approaches Hector and they fight, until Hector, with the honorable “mercy” that Troilus mentioned earlier, offers Achilles the opportunity to “pause.” Battle-weary Achilles has no choice, although he “distain[s]” Hector’s “courtesy” and promises that they shall meet again. Troilus returns with the news that “Ajax hath ta’en Aeneas,” and vows to rescue him if he dies in the attempt.

  ACT 5 SCENE 7

  Achilles instructs the Myrmidons to follow him and, when they have found Hector, to kill him.

  ACT 5 SCENE 8

  Thersites watches Menelaus and Paris, “the cuckold and the cuckold-maker,” as they fight. As they exit, Margarelon challenges Thersites to fight, but he runs away.

  ACT 5 SCENE 9

  Hector rests briefly, removing his helmet and shield. As he does so, Achilles approaches with the Myrmidons. Despite Hector’s protest that he is “unarmed,” Achilles urges his warriors to “strike,” showing none of the honor and mercy that Hector himself shows. The Greeks sound a retreat, and Achilles drags Hector’s body back to the camp behind his horse.

  ACT 5 SCENE 10

  A soldier brings the news that Achilles has slain Hector. In contrast to his earlier pride, Ajax comments that Hector was a good man, and that his death should be “bragless.” Agamemnon sends someone to fetch Achilles, observing that if Hector is really dead, then the battle is won. Despite this, the mood of the Greeks is subdued rather than triumphant.

  ACT 5 SCENE 11

  Aeneas is defiant until Troilus brings the news that Hector is dead. He reports that Hector’s corpse has been dragged “at the murderer’s horse’s tail” round the battlefield, emphasizing Achilles’ brutality and lack of heroism. Wearily, Troilus calls on the gods to be mercifully quick in their destruction of Troy, telling Aeneas that he does not speak of the war, but of the whole human condition. He says that they must march back to Troy with the news of Hector’s death, and, in doing so, they will turn Priam “to stone” and “Scare Troy out of itself.” He then swears his revenge on Achilles, acknowledging that this threat is merely to hide his “inward woe.” As he leaves, Pandarus tries to speak with him, but Troilus insults the “broker-lackey” and leaves. The last words are spoken by Pandarus, who complains of his ill-treatment, and his diseased body (a final image of decay), the last in a series of anticlimaxes and unfinished narratives that characterize this play.

  TROILUS AND CRESSIDA

  IN PERFORMANCE:

  THE RSC AND BEYOND

  The best way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or ideally to participate in it. By examining a range of productions, we may gain a sense of the extraordinary variety of approaches and interpretations that are possible—a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made “our contemporary” four centuries after his death.

  We begin with a brief overview of the play’s theatrical and cinematic life, offering historical perspectives on how it has been performed. We then analyze in more detail a series of productions staged over the last half-century by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sense of dialogue between productions that can only occur when a company is dedicated to the revival and investigation of the Shakespeare canon over a long period, together with the uniquely comprehensive archival resource of promptbooks, program notes, reviews, and interviews held on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an “RSC stage history” to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.

  We then go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director. He or she must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear the directors of two highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.

  FOUR CENTURIES OF TROILUS AND CRESSIDA: AN OVERVIEW

  The circumstances of the early performances of Troilus and Cressida are not simply unknown, but obscured by conflicting evidence. The original title page of the 1609 Quarto of the play tells us it is printed “as it was acted by the Kings Maiesties seruants at the Globe,”17 but another printing the same year removes this claim and adds a note to the reader telling us the play was “neuer stal’d with the Stage, neuer clapper-clawd with the palmes of the vulgar.”18 Scholars have puzzled over the implications of these mutually contradictory claims: was the play unsuccessful? Was it the victim of censorship? Was it ever performed in Shakespeare’s theater?

  Claims that the play was written with the Globe in mind are supported by the play’s scale and use of multiple playing levels, as in Act 1 Scene 2. The pillars of the theater may have been used to “conceal” the eavesdroppers in Act 5 Scene 2, and the wit of Thersites (almost certainly a role for the company fool, Robert Armin) may certainly have appealed to the “vulgar” groundlings. However, other scholars have argued that the play was instead written for a private, academic audience at the Inns of Court. The fact that the play was almost excluded from the First Folio of Shakespeare’s works may go further to suggest that the play, for reasons lost to history, never received a public showing in its original form until the twentieth century.

  Not until 1679, when John Dryden adapted the play as Troilus and Cressida; or, Truth Found Too Late, is there a firm record of performance. The play’s Prologue apologizes for adapting the original by having Thomas Betterton play the ghost of Shakespeare himself, brought on stage to admit that he was “Untaught, unpractis’d, in a barbarous Age,”19 and that his “rough-drawn Play” required improvement. While praising Shakespeare, the emphasis on the roughness of the play licenses adaptation to the taste of the times. Most significant is an entirely new fifth act, turning the play into a more conventional tragedy. In Dryden’s version, Cressida remains true to Troilus, with her father telling her “You must dissemble love to Diomede still” (Act 4 Scene 2) in order to conceal their escape plan, but Troilus believes her to be genuinely unfaithful. During the later fighting, she attempts to prevent Troilus from killing Diomedes as it would undo their plans. As she protests her fidelity to the furious Troilus, however, Diomedes presents Cressida’s ring and claims he had taken “full possession” (Act 5 Scene 2). As Troilus calls down curses on Cressida, she kills herself. In a bleak final battle, a repentant and vengeful Troilus kills Diomedes before being slain by Achilles.

  The adaptation was first performed by the Duke’s Company at Dorset Garden in 1679 with Betterton as Troilus, and was revived in 1697 and again in 1709, with Betterton now playing Thersites. Between 1720 and 1723 there were a few further revivals, with Lacy Ryan as Troilus and James Quin as Hector and then Thersites. The attraction of leading actors to multiple roles is perhaps an indicator that the play was already seen as an ensemble drama, whose lack of clear star roles may partially account for its lack of popularity during the actor-manager years of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

  Troilus and Cressida was not entirely forgotten, however, during its absence from the stage. Although neither was performed, John Philip Kemble began creating a promptbook toward the end of the eighteenth century, and in 1852 G. H. Davidson published an acting edition, probably prepared by Thomas Hailes Lacy. This version adheres relatively closely to the original text, although the more indecorous aspects of Cressida’s role are not shown onstage. An interest in spectacle pervades the text, most notably in a conclusion which omits the Epilogue, the curtain instead descending on a tableau featuring Achilles in his chariot dragging Hector’s body. The opportunities for grand spectacle, such as costume designs taken from Homer, undoubtedly appealed to Victorian tastes for historical re-creation, but the cynicism and dubious morality of the play continued to render it unstageable. George Daniel’s remarks in the introduction to the Lacy text make clear his feelings that “Cressida is throughout a hypocrite and a wanton,”20 a prejudicial judgment of the character that continued to color attitudes toward the play into the twentieth century.

  “[Shakespeare] seems wilfully and maliciously to have attempted to dethrone the idols of ancient Greece, and to show them to us in a light at once distorted and disagreeable.”21 Critics and directors at the beginning of the twentieth century showed renewed interest in Troilus and Cressida as satire, now understanding the play to be deliberately unpleasant. A British theater newly interested in the original conditions of presentation was open to fresh exploration of the play, even if the press were not quite so prepared. William Poel’s 1913 production for the Elizabethan Stage Society confused reviewers with its combination of Elizabethan dress for the Greeks and classical costumes for the Trojans, and the casting of female actors in several male roles was criticized for being at odds with Poel’s experiments in Elizabethan practices. However, Edith Evans “was superlative at Cressida, and must have made fervent Chaucerians weep”;22 she “enacted this subtle part with abundant individuality, the affectation of her sing-song voice, when shamming indifference or coyness, being only one among many ingenious touches.”23 The reviewers were less enthused by a clownish Ajax and a general burlesque spirit, though it was noted that this was less Poel’s fault than Shakespeare’s.

  Poel’s production was preceded by that of Charles Fry in 1907 at Great Queen Street, who revived the play for what the Evening Standard declared was “the first time since Shakespeare’s death.” This production was “chiefly valuable from the elocutionary point of view,”24 providing a showcase for Fry’s reciting talents against a simple green curtain. These two productions reclaimed Troilus and Cressida as a play for the new century, free from expectations of a Victorian spectacular. The divorce from attitudes toward propriety and decorum would take longer, and Cressida, Helen, Pandarus, and Thersites in particular continued to offend the tastes of Edwardian reviewers—the women for their sexual frankness and the men for the vulgarity of their language.