Shakespeare’s play, Troilus and Cressida, does not stick to its title. When I had first gotten the book, I thought it would be about a guy named Troilus and a woman named Cressida but no its not. The play is about this war over Helen. Helen and Cressida can be seen as foils though. Here we have Helen who left her husband for Paris while Cressida does not want to leave Troilus, she is forced to. Although she is forced to, she promises to be faithful but that does not happen; she ends up with Diomedes. So both women break their promises. I have some favorite scenes that just seem interesting and odd to me.
In Act 1, scene 2, on page 27, Cressida and Pandarus are talking about the men especially Hector and Troilus. I find it odd how Cressida says in line 78: “He is not Hector.” She keeps coming back to how Troilus is not Hector. I know Shakespeare confuses us and wants us that way so I felt like maybe this was his way of confusing us on how Cressida feels. She does have feelings for Troilus but does not want anyone to know.
In Act 3, scene 2, line 7: “...I stalk about her door”. Troilus says this to Pandarus who is trying to help him get together with Cressida. This line though, I thought was very interesting for Troilus to say. He is basically saying that he has been stalking her which does seem kind of strange and most people today would see it as something crazy and possibly call the police, but his way of doing things paid off for a little bit. I mean he did get together with Cressida.
We talked about Act 4, scene 3, today in class. This was one of the moments I had as one of my favorite scenes. I thought it was so crazy when Paris just basically tells Troilus that he can’t help him to keep the woman he loves because it is out of his hands. But, this whole war is about Paris keeping the woman he loves and Troilus has been helping him with that. I thought about it this way, just like Angela was saying in class today, that I would do anything for my brother and my family. Troilus has been doing everything he can to help his brother but when he is in need of help, his brother says oh he can’t do nothing about it.
Where I thought this play would be about Troilus and Cressida just from the title, it turned out to be about Paris, Helen, and the Trojan war, just like the Aeneid and the Iliad. Since I had already read those two, it was easier to follow along in the play and to see Shakespeare’s way of doing it his way.
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