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Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida: Audience Expectation and Matters of Taste in Relation to Authorship and the Book Johann Gregory A thesis submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University 2013 © Johann Gregory, 2013 All Rights Reserved SUMMARY Questions concerning whether Shakespeare wrote for the stage or the page are a perennial issue in Shakespeare studies. Part of the problem rests on expectations of literature and theatre. These expectations are in fact voiced in Shakespearean drama itself, a drama that often articulates ideas concerning audience expectations. In Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, before Troilus visits Cressida he exclaims “expectation whirls me round”. Of all the plays in the Shakespearean canon, variants of “expect” feature most in this play. Troilus and Cressida itself scrutinises expectation of a story with famous classical, medieval and contemporary precedents, for a play to be performed by the leading theatre company of the day, and of a play by a playwright who was also conscious of his role as a published author. In the play, characters are frequently staged as spectators or audience members, raising issues relating to expectations, taste, value judgements, and viewpoints. Shakespeare responds to the plays of his contemporaries and, arguably, the political scene as well. The thesis reworks Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field to gauge the way that Shakespeare’s play engages with its theatrical and literary environment, and resituates Bourdieu’s work on taste and social distinction to consider how Shakespeare’s Trojan play responds to the contingencies of audience expectation. The first chapter considers critical expectations of the play from 1609 to the present; the second chapter focuses on the way Shakespeare stages patrons, performers and especially audience members; the third chapter reads the language of food and taste in the play in relation to developing early modern distinctions about literature and theatre; the final chapter provides a correction to readings of the play that have relied on the unique 1609 quarto preface to the play for understanding the work; this chapter argues that even the play, as staged, presents literary issues, and characters that show an awareness of print culture. Within its own early modern literary-theatrical field, Shakespeare’s play is far more about elitist tastes than it is elitist itself. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Troilus and Cressida marks Shakespeare’s growing confidence as a literary dramatist, not simply as an author whose plays were published as literature, but as a playwright who was capable of using theatre and audience expectation to re-evaluate literary tastes. Broadly positioned, the thesis provides a case study which revises critical expectations of this play in order to situate better Shakespeare’s contribution to early modern drama and literature. DEDICATION From “Take a Pew” A very many years ago, when I was about as old as some of you are now, I went mountain climbing in Scotland with a very dear friend of mine. There was this mountain, you see, and we decided to climb it. And so, very early one morning, we arose and we began to climb. All day we climbed. Up and up and up, higher and higher and higher, until the valley lay very small below us and the mist of the evening began to come down and the sun to set. And when we reached the summit we sat down to watch this tremendous sight of the sun going down behind the mountains. And as we watched, my friend very suddenly, and violently, vomited! – Alan Bennett, Beyond the Fringe This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Rebecca Lo. Near the top of Mount Kinabalu, she sat with me when I was sick and we watched the sunrise. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Imagine my surprise when, in the early stages of my research on Troilus and Cressida, I received my Arden II edition through the post, opened the cover, and found written in blue biro: “Warning! This Play is boring + crap”. It was underlined, with an emphatic full stop. However, it wasn’t long before I realised how central questions of expectations, paratexts, pleasure, boredom and body matter were going to be for my thesis. Besides being a grateful recipient of an Edward Rhys-Price Studentship, I am thankful to a number of family members for financial assistance, including all my grandparents, my mother Angela, and my father Karl (who paid my PhD tuition fees). Of course, their love means more to me. My mother “loves me like rock”. Brockworth with Catherine, Sam and Heather has been an important home from home, as has Caldey Island – thank you Paul. Genevieve and Francesca have been two of the most important companions I have ever had – they also happen to be my sisters. I am grateful to a number of other people who have helped me during my PhD candidacy. I can’t see how I could have embarked on the PhD without Hellier’s hospitality. Thanks to all the fun loving people at No. 60, especially Dotty, Lily, T. Lo and, most of all, Darshni; our time in Malaysia with Dan, Gen and Rebecca was out of this world. Thanks to Dyfrig, Meurig and Simon for transporting my library around during vacations. Thank you to James for keeping in touch, and to Vanessa for being a great drinking companion! Father Gareth Jones at the University Chaplaincy has been an important ally. Those working and interrupting in offices 0.40 and 0.43 have provided support and distraction in helpful proportions – you know who you are (Mikey!). Chris Müller’s enthusiasm, empathy and willingness to go on coffee breaks have been especially vital for the writing process. I am also grateful to those academics at Cardiff and further afield who have made me feel part of an academic community. My thesis would have been a lot worse without the input of several academics; among them, Lukas Erne, two anonymous readers for Shakespeare and members of the Société Française Shakespeare have read or heard parts of my work carefully. I am also grateful to Elizabeth Swann for emailing to me her conference paper on taste (referenced in the notes) and to Eoin Price for discussing early modern privacy and sending some references from the WSB Online: I can’t wait to read their publications. Teaching medieval literature, Jonson, Shakespeare and Spenser at Cardiff with Rachel Jones and the module leaders has been fun and valuable; thanks also to Marianne Fisher for passing on Stephen Knight’s Bourdieu photocopies. I am grateful to Helen Phillips for allowing me to attend her MA module on the story of Troilus and Cressida. Alice Leonard was there for several important conferences and Andy Kesson warmly chaired our first paper on Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida. François Xavier-Gleyzon has been an exciting collaborator (on a parallel project) via email and Skype – perhaps we should never meet! To those who remain nameless here, thank you for offering encouragement and support, whether in the School, at conferences or via email. I have been especially fortunate to share my research experience with other Shakespeare PhD students at Cardiff; Sophie Battell and Étienne Poulard deserve special mention because we shared the most and have become great friends in the process. I am also grateful for support from those early moderns who have gone before me, including Roger Christofides, Beatrice Fannon, Elizabeth Ford, Mariele Pfannebecker, Peter Roberts, Joseph Sterrett and Alun Thomas. Reading Shakespeare’s plays would not have been half as fun without Cakespeare –thanks to all who participated and especially to the Third Thief. MEMORI dinners were always a thrill with the guest speakers and, of course, Mama. And Richard Wilson’s Marlowe course with “Dr Alison Faustus” will not be forgotten. I am very grateful to Lewis Beer for taking the time to read through a near-final draft of the thesis. His attention to detail and engagement with my project has been very encouraging. Martin Coyle has offered sustained support from the wings – right from when I first spoke to him on a mobile phone from a cliff top on Caldey Island! I can’t thank Irene Morra enough for her supervision; she has been a true guardian of the thesis and a professional mentor in the best sense. I could write a book about my other supervisor; this thesis is certainly an engagement with the work of Richard Wilson – which is perhaps the best thanks that can be offered a supervisor. I am tremendously grateful for the way that he has encouraged me to think critically and historically, and to participate in scholarly debates in my own thesis, in journals and at international conferences. A highlight of this supervision was our attendance at an opera after a conference on Troilus and Cressida at Freie Universität, Berlin: appropriately (given my thesis topic), it was Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio set in the world of a modern brothel. “‘Ah, that was our best time!’ said Frédéric. ‘Could be? Yes, that was our best time!’ said Deslauriers.” Finally, Lucy Menon has enabled me to approach the finishing line, helping me to proofread the final draft and just being wonderful: shine on you crazy diamond! TABLE OF CONTENTS A Note on Texts p. 1 INTRODUCTION Setting Up Expectations p. 2 I. Audience Expectations II. Expectations of the Matter of Troy III. Expectations of Audience IV. Theatre of the Book V. Visualising Expectations as a Matter of Taste p. 15 VI. Making Distinctions with Taste VII. Definitions and Positions VIII. Chapter Summaries CHAPTER ONE Critical Expectations of Troilus and Cressida p. 46 I.
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