•Andromache: Wife of Hector.•Alexander: Servant of Cressida•Aeneas : A Trojan commander•Antenor :A Trojan commander.

The Trojans

PriamKing of Troy

Hectorthe greatest of the Trojan warriors.

ParisIt was him who caused

the Trojan War by stealing Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus.

TroilusHe is hopelessly in love

with the Trojan maid Cressida.

Cassandraa prophetess.

CressidaA beautiful young

Trojan woman.

CalchasTrojan priest who is

taking part with the Greeks

Pandarus He helps the lovesick Troilus

woo her with his wheedling tongue.

Uncle of CressidaFather of Cressida

The Greeks

•Ulysses, Nestor:Greek officers.•Thersites:

Greek slave. With bitter sarcasm,

Achilles The greatest of the Greek warriors, he is also an arrogant, vicious man,

who refuses to fight in the war whenever his pride is injured.

HelenWife of Menelaus who absconded with Paris.

MenelausBrother of Agamemnon and cuckolded husband

of Helen of Troy.

AgamemnonCommander-in-chief of the Greek armies.

DiomedesGreek warrior who

wins Cressida from Troilus.

AjaxGigantic Greek warrior

whom Shakespeare depicts as proud but brainless.

Patroclus Greek warrior who engages in

a homosexual relationship with Achilles.

Love PlotLove Plot

War PlotWar Plot

The very next morning, a guy named Diomedes takes Cressida

away to the Greek camppromising Troilus that he'll take

real good care of Cressida.

Hector points out that it's totally dishonorable to kill an unarmed soldier

but Achilles tells his goons to do it anyway.

Setting:Setting: Ancient Troy during the Trojan War.

Genre:Genre: Tragedy, Comedy, Sarcasm.

Tone:Tone: Cynical, Bitter. Troilus and Cressida is cynical and bitter, especially about the subjects of warfare and love, which are both portrayed as treacherous and futile

Writing Style:Writing Style:Verse:Verse: Pros:Pros:

Most of Shakespeare's plays are written in a verse (Iambic Pentameter).

Princes like Troilus and other "upper-class" characters , The idea is that speaking verse fits

their social rank.

commoners and slaves tend to just speak regular

old prose.

the play offers a debased view of human nature in war-

time and a stage peopled by generally unsympathetic characters. Like many of the great tragedies.

We noticed that Shakespeare uses anti-climax throughout the play, so that scenes that we think will be critical turn out to be letdowns. Examples?.

The events of the play, are almost defiantly unsatisfying.

Love Theme Warfare Theme

Principles Theme Politics vs. Personal life Theme

Love Theme Warfare Theme

Two people manage to fall in love under horrendous circumstances . When Troilus and Cressida fall for each other during the seventh year of a horrible war, they manage to carve out a little world for themselves where the ugliness of politics and warfare can't reach them But that ugliness tares them apart.

The play sort of suggests that love can't possibly exist in such an ugly

world and that romantic relationships boil down to one thing: Lust.

*If the actions that go down on the battlefield of Troy are bad, the cause of the Trojan War is even worse.*This play tells us that the Trojan war is war fought for one reason only : “Paris ran off with Menelaus’ (king of greek) wife and won’t give her back” *Even though the Trojans insist they fight to keep Helen as a matter of “honor”, they crudely states all of this was is over an “ easy woman”.

Principles Theme Politics vs. Personal life Theme

*Troilus and Cressida shows us a world that is corrupt and fallen. Lovers cheat, leaders manipulate and lie, and traditionally epic heroes behave badly*The "great Achilles" refuses to fight for most of the play and when he does, he kills a guy who's unarmed . *Helen, whose "price hath launch'd above a thousand ships" is nothing more than a prostitue .

*Troilus and Cressida's romance is thwarted when Cressida is traded to the Greeks.*Achilles is highly criticized when he chooses his love life over his military duties.*The irony of all this is that the Trojan War is being fought because of Paris' personal relationship with Helen.