Word: cressida
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Last summer the Aldwych produced, among other things, Troilus and Cressida. Troilus and Cressida is supposed to be a "problem play"; indeed, after having tried recently to produce it at the Loch, Dan Seltzer threw up his hands and swore never again to get involved with...
Professor Seltzer begins his introduction to the American Signet edition of the play, "The modern student of Troilus and Cressida -reader, spectator, and actor-is faced with complex problems of staging, character, and moral ideas." One suspects he wrote this before his attempted production; at any rate, its truth cannot be faulted...
Thirsites, the deformed, caviling, ranting, smirking, groveling Greek, gradually emerges as the dominant figure. Ajax beats him, Patroclus upbraids him, but when (as he watches while Cressida submits to Diomed's advances) he speaks the line...
...problem" of inconsistency of character, which arises particularly in Cressida's and Pandarus' case, was dealt with by Barton in sexual terms. Cressida was initially innocent yet boundlessly lustful, and her night with Troilus initiated her into a physicality which dictated her subsequent falseness. Pandarus was a glib, leering yet friendly uncle, whose skill in sexual innuendo helped him to live a vicarious sexual life through those around...
...short a debased sexuality, which for Shakespeare is a major thematic concern, was raised, unnecessarily I think, to a dominant position. Doubtless it is no accident that Troilus and Cressida describe their love largely in terms of food imagery, that Thirsites condemns, triumphantly, wars and lechery. But to single out for so much emphasis this one element does harm, I think, by narrowing Shakespeare's intents...