Troilus and Cressida
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Dating Shakespeare’s Plays: Troilus and Cressida The Tragedie of Troylus and Creſsida. his play can be dated any time between [Qa, 1609] THE HISTORIE OF TROYLUS Arthur Hall’s translation of the first ten / and Cresseida / As it was acted by the Kings books of Homer’s Iliad in 1581 and its Maiesties servants at the Globe / Written by Tpublication in the Quarto of 1609. William Shakespeare [Qb, 1609] THE / Famous Historie of / Troylus and Cresseid./ Excellently expressing the Publication beginning / of their loves, with the conceited wooing of Pandarus Prince of Litia / Written by The process of publication is full of surprises, William Shakespeare / LONDON / Imprinted which have not been explained satisfactorily. The by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and play was entered conditionally into the Stationers’ / are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules / Church-yeard, over against the / great North- Register in February 1603: doore. / 1609 [SR, 1603] 7 februarii. Master Robertes. Entred for his copie in full Court holden this day, to Secondly, the Preface to Qb contains the print when he hath gotten sufficient authority following address to the reader (omitted from Qa for yt. The booke of Troilus and Cresseda as yt and from the First Folio) in which it asserts that is acted by my lord Chamberlins Men. vjd. the play had not been publicly performed: It is not clear who would have provided A neuer writer, to an euer / reader. Newes. “sufficient authority” and there is no evidence that it was published in 1603. A play of the same Eternall reader, you have heere a new play, never stal’d with the Stage, never clapper-clawd with name was registered in January 1609 by different the palmes of the vulger, and yet passing full of the publishers, Richard Bonian and Henry Walley, palme comicall; for it is a birth of your braine, that and it was printed by George Eld: never undertooke any thing commicall, vainely: And were but the vaine names of commedies [SR, 1609] 28 Januarii. Richard Bonion henry changde for the titles of Commodities, or of Playes Walleys. Entred for their Copy vnder thandes of for Pleas; you should see all those grand censors, mr Segar deputy to Sr geo Bucke and mr ward. that now stile them such vanities, flock to them Lownes a booke called The History of Troylus for the maine grace of their gravities: especially and Cressida. this authors Commedies, that are so fram’d to the life, that they serve for the most common It is always assumed that this refers to the same Commentaries, of all the actions of our lives, play mentioned in the SR in 1603, but it is possible shewing such a dexteritie, and power of witte, that that these entries refer to different plays or that the most displeased with Playes, are pleasd with his an original version in 1603 was revised by 1609. Commedies. And all such dull and heavy-witted There are only fifteen copies of the first quarto: worldlings, as were never capable of the witte of a Commedie, comming by report of them to his three are known as Qa, the rest are known as Qb, representations, have found that witte there, that with two main differences. Firstly, Qb bears a they never found in them-selves, and have parted different title page: better wittied then they came: feeling an edge of © De Vere Society 1 Dating Shakespeare’s Plays: Troilus and Cressida Title page to the first quarto of Troilus and Cressida, 1609. By permission of Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, shelfmark Arch. G d.43 (6), title page. witte set upon them, more then ever they dreamd this the lesse, for not being sullied, with the smoaky they had braine to grinde it on. So much and such breath of the multitude; but thanke fortune for savored salt of witte is in his Commedies, that they the scape it hath made amongst you. Since by the seeme (for their height of pleasure) to be borne in grand possessors wills I beleeve you should have that sea that brought forth Venus. Amongst all prayd for them rather then beene prayd. And so I there is none more witty then this: And had I time leave all such to bee prayd for (for the states of their I would comment upon it, though I know it needs wits healths) that will not praise it. Vale. not, (for so much as will make you thinke your testerne well bestowd) but for so much worth, as Alexander (among others) suggests that the play even poore I know to be stuft in it. It deserves such a was for a private audience at one of the Inns of labour, as well as the best Commedy in or Terence Court because of the claim that it had not been Plautus. And beleeve this, That when hee is gone, and his Commedies out of sale, you will scramble played publicly. He dismisses the idea of a royal for them, and set up a new English Inquisition. performance as “the whole tone of the piece makes Take this for a warning, and at the perrill of your this impossible.” (195) pleasures losse and Judgements, refuse not, nor like © De Vere Society 2 Dating Shakespeare’s Plays: Troilus and Cressida The genre of the play remains obscure. The Of course, the play might have been performed title pages of the quartos refer to it as a history first privately and then publicly; the members of but the Preface to Qb refers to it as a comedy; a company would have performed it at a courtly in the First Folio, where it is placed between the or aristocratic venue and then transferred it to Histories and the Tragedies, it is called a tragedy. a public theatre such as the Globe, rather than The play was omitted from the Catalogue to the staging the play just once. First Folio (1623) but was included at the end of the Histories. The second and third page were Sources numbered 79 and 80 (although they would have been 235 and 236 in the sequence of Histories). Bullough cites various medieval versions of the The next play, Coriolanus, is numbered 1–30 romantic story of Troilus and Cressida (it is not according to the pattern of separate numbering in found in the ancient sources): each section. In F1, the title page and the running title give ‘The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida’ (a) Chaucer in his longest poem Troilus and despite the protagonists’ separate survival at the Criseyde (8,000 lines) provided most of the end: details of the romantic plot along courtly, chivalric lines and of the characters of Troilus [F1 Title Page] The Tragedie of Troylus and and Pandarus. Further details seem to derive Cressida. from Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid, which continued Cressida’s story and F1 seems to follow Q in general, but without the was included in the edition by Thynne in 1532 (and in later publications, e.g. by John Stow in preface of Qb and with an additional prologue; 1561 and by Thomas Speght in 1598). there are also many verbal differences. It has been suggested that the differences arise from use of the (b) Lydgate’s Troy Book, a lengthy poem author’s foul papers (Chambers) or from a prompt written c. 1420 by a monk at the request of book (Wells & Taylor). Henry V, who wished to explore and develop notions of chivalry. This poem was published by Performance Date Richard Pynson in 1513 as The hystorye sege and dystruccyon of Troye. It supplied the dramatist with details on the Trojan War in general and There is no record of any actual performance on Cressida’s character. before the Restoration period, when the play was produced in 1668. (c) Caxton’s translation of Lefèvre’s Recuyell of The Stationers’ Register claims that the play had the Historyes of Troye (c. 1475) may have been been acted before February 1602/3 by the Lord used for the scenes of military action. Chamberlain’s Men. Qa states that “it was acted by the King’s Majesty’s servants at the Globe”. Qb, Bullough also states that the dramatist might however, states that the play was new and “never have used any of the numerous translations of stal’d with the Stage, never clapper-clawd with the Homer’s Iliad for information about the Trojan palmes of the vulger” which is usually taken to mean War. Various Latin translations were published that it ‘had never been acted before’ but might after 1474; French translations date from 1520 just have meant that it ‘had never been acted in a by Samxon and from 1545 by Salel. The earliest public theatre’. Opinions are divided as to where English translation was by Arthur Hall (London, the author originally intended to produce the 1581) and confined to only the first ten books play: Peter Alexander and Gary Taylor proposed (covering the events in Troilus and Cressida). the Inns of Court as the first venue, while Ernst George Chapman’s Seaven Books of the Iliades Honigmann considered a Cambridge college (1598) omits some action in both the Iliad and the because of the reference in the Parnassus plays play, e.g. Menelaus’ challenge to Paris. Bullough, (described below). Robert Kimbrough argues however, sees no precise debt to Chapman and for performance in the public theatre (as stated accepts that details used in the play had been in Qa). Hotine argues for a first performance at covered in previous publications.