DOCSLIB.ORG

Study Questions Troilus and Cressida D R a F T

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Study Questions Troilus and Cressida D R a F T 2012 Suggestions for Teaching Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare Before seeing/reading the play 1. Research the Trojan War? What was the source of the conflict? Who fought against whom? Who were the major players? How long did it last? What was the outcome? Who famously wrote about events in The Trojan War? These and other websites provide information: http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html http://www.ancienthistory.about.com/cs/troyilium/a/trojanwar.htm 2. The Iliad is an epic poem written by Homer. What events are recounted in The Iliad? Who are the major characters in The Iliad? These and other websites provide information: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html#Iliad 3. Read Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyd, one of Shakespeare's sources for this play. These and other websites provide information: http://www.tkline.pgcc.net/PITBR/English/Chaucerhome.htm http://www.omacl.org/Troilus 4. According to the Random House Webster’s dictionary, status is “the position or rank of an individual in relation to others.” Describe some of the factors that determine an individual’s status. When and how can one’s status change? Describe situations in which status is important. Under what circumstances is status unimportant? What is the relationship of reputation to status? 5. I maintain that this question has nothing to do with the play. I would delete it, but I defer to someone else. Which members of the House of Atreus are associated with the Trojan War? Describe the part each plays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreus 6. Who were the gods and goddesses in Greek mythology? Who was Eris? How did her Golden Apple contribute to the Trojan War? Which gods and goddesses were involved in the events leading up to the war? Which participated in the war itself, on which side, and why? These and other websites provide information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_of_Paris www.livingmyths.com/Greek.htm http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/ 1 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881990.html http://www.crystalinks.com/olympians.html 7. What is honor? Why is honor important? When is being honorable a positive thing? When might being honorable have negative consequences? 8. Research the medieval concept of chivalry. What are the main attributes of a chivalrous knight? How did medieval writers retroactively assign these attributes to Hector in the Trojan War mythology? These and other websites provide information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalry www.books.google.com (Type chivalry Hector into search bar) 9. What does it mean to be a hero? Make a list of heroes from your own life, as well as from theatre, television film and literature. What are the heroic qualities of the individuals on your list? In what ways are the heroes in your list similar? In what ways are they different? What is a tragic hero? What are some examples of a tragic hero? These and other websites provide information: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_hero 10. Research the elements of Shakespearean tragedy and Shakespearean comedy. What characteristics does each traditionally possess? These and other websites provide information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_tragedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_comedy http://www.assets.cambridge.org/97805217/90093/sample/9780521790093ws.pdf http://www.cdschools.org/54232092633527/lib/542320926134633527/Shakespearean_ Tragedy.doc 11. Define the following words: anticlimax, appetite, commodity, cuckold, cynicism, denigrate, invective, lechery, pessimism. These and other on-line dictionaries provide definitions. http://www.merriam-webster.com/ http://dictionary.reference.com/ 12. Define pander. How is the word related to Shakespeare’s character Pandarus? These and other websites provide information: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pander http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pander Film Resource Troilus and Cressida (1981), BBC/Time-Life, part of the Great Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. Learn more about Shakespeare’s life and times at the following websites: http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ http://www.willowcabin.com/life.htm http://www.dlhoffman.com/publiclibrary/Shakespeare/life.html 2 For other literary interpretations of the play’s principal characters, read The Iliad, Homer The Odyssey, Homer The Aeneid, Virgil The Oresteia, Aeschylus Iphigenia at Aulis, Sophocles The Trojan Women, Sophocles Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer After seeing/reading the play 1. Refer to your research on Shakespearean tragedy and comedy (Before seeing/reading the play #10 above). What elements of each of these genres does Troilus and Cressida exhibit? Discuss how you would categorize it. 2. Make a chart mapping out the Greeks and their relationships – familial, political and emotional – to each other. Do the same for the Trojans. Which characters’ relationships are displaced before or in the course of the play? What effect does the loss have on them? How does it alter their status? 3. Identify examples of food imagery: harvest, appetite, preparation, consuming, overindulging, leftover, scraps, vomiting. To what actions, individuals and conditions are these images applied? Which images exalt the thing being compared and which debase it? 4. Find examples of disease imagery (note that “diseases” is the last word of the play). What do these images reveal about the characters (those speaking and those being compared) and the world of the play? 5. Find instances of animal imagery. Which comparisons are favorable? Which unfavorable? 6. Identify references to body parts (as opposed to whole bodies). How do these images foreshadow the actions in the play? 7. Find instances in which people are described in terms of merchandise and trade. Find instances in which people are traded like merchandise. To what extent does the language prepare you for these moments? 8. Chart the use of numbers in the play. In each instance, what is being counted? What is the effect of this quantifying? 9. Compile a list of descriptions of individual Greeks by the Trojans. Do the same for the opinions of the Trojans held by the Greeks. Be sure to include the assessments uttered by Pandarus and Thersites. What do these descriptions tell you about the characters who speak them? 3 10. Describe Hector in his various roles: son, brother, husband, warrior, leader of the Trojans, decision-maker, man of honor. How does he change in the course of the play? What prompts him to kill the Greek in sumptuous armor? What are the consequences of his doing so? 11. Compare the debate in the Greek council (Act One, Scene iii) with the debate in the Trojan council (Act Two, Scene ii). In both instances, what are the issues? What arguments are made on each side? What decisions are reached? How are the decisions justified? What are the consequences of the decisions – for Agamemnon, for Achilles, for the Greek soldiers, for Hector, for Troilus, for the Trojan soldiers, for the people of Troy? 12. Do a close reading of Agamemnon’s speech at the top of Act I, scene iii, beginning with the line, “What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?” What is wrong with the Greek army, and who is to blame? According to Agamemnon, why should they welcome the challenges the war has brought? What is the purpose of his speech? 13. According to Ulysses, what actions and attitudes are causing problems for the Greeks in Act I, scene iii? What does he mean by “degree”? Paraphrase the philosophy he articulates in his “degree” speech (Act I, scene iii, 74-137). What remedies does he propose? What does he hope to accomplish? To what extent are Ulysses’ acts consistent with this philosophy? To what extent do his actions undermine it? 14. Refer to your research on the origins of the Trojan War (Before seeing/reading the play #1 above). To what extent do you feel the Greeks are justified in going to war? To what extent are the Trojans justified in refusing to relinquish Helen? 15. What arguments in favor of war are made in the text? What arguments against war? Which are more persuasive and why? 16. Refer to your research on the participation of the gods and goddesses in the Trojan War (Before seeing/reading the play #6 above). Which deities are mentioned in the play? How do the characters refer to them? What does Shakespeare gain by not having the deities as active participants? What does he lose? 17. Refer to your reflections on honor (Before seeing/reading the play #7 above). How do the following characters interpret honor: Hector? Achilles? Troilus? Cressida? Paris? Agamemnon? Menelaus? Thersites? Pandarus? Which ones embody their own ideals? Which ones fall short? 18. Refer to your research of status. Rank each character according to status. How is status related to one’s reputation in the play? What factors contribute to each individual’s status? Who gains status as the play progresses? Who loses it? Choose a single character and chart his or her fluctuations in status according to actions, situations and who is speaking. 19. Who is loyal to whom? What engages their loyalty? Which characters betray others? What prompts their betrayals? 4 20. Chart the descriptions of Helen by the Greeks and by the Trojans. Note the differences in how she is perceived. What does she represent for each side? Why is she valued? What qualities make her worth fighting for? When she appears onstage, to what extent does she match the descriptions? To what extent does she contradict them? 21. What does Thersites contribute to the play? Why do the other characters tolerate him? Describe the occasions in which his life is threatened; in each case, explain by whom and for what reason.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Aesthetics of Railing: Troilus and Cressida and Coriolanus
    The Aesthetics of Railing:Troilus and Cressida and Coriolanus Maria Teresa Micaela Prendergast The College of Wooster Cet essai explore comment Shakespeare utilise la rhétorique des insultes cruelles et for- tement métaphoriques des débuts de la modernité afin de réaliser une rivalité agressive entre le déclinant idéal aristocratique élisabéthain du sang et du langage épique d’une part, et le théâtre satirique en émergence d’autre part. Ce type de théâtre se justifie en associant le guerrier aristocratique à un corps suintant, efféminé, et malade. Cet essai se concentre en particulier sur les pièces Troilus and Cressida et Coriolanus, qui éta- blissent un fort lien entre la manifestation de maladies internes sur la peau et la perte d’autonomie masculine. Dans Troilus and Cressida, Thersites, incarnant le personnage du fou, domine la pièce avec ses discours vicieux qui transforment sur le plan rhétorique le personnage héroïque de l’aristocrate masculin en une créature abjecte. Parallèlement, Coriolan, en fort contraste avec Thersites, est un guerrier autonome, qui néanmoins sou- tient l’opinion de Thersites que le spectacle théâtral, ainsi que la fréquentation des gens du peuple dégradent les idéaux guerriers aristocratiques. Les deux pièces suggèrent que c’est à travers une langue caustique et scatologique de l’insulte, de pair avec une destruction rhétorique des idéaux de l’aristocratie guerrière, que le théâtre britannique du début du dix-septième siècle remplace une esthétique traditionnelle de l’élite faite de sang héroïque par une célébration de la puissance rhétorique des croûtes et des éruptions cutanées. ike many of his Elizabethan and Jacobean contemporaries, Shakespeare was Lcaught up in the art of railing.
    [Show full text]
  • Filostrato: an Unintentional Comedy?
    Heliotropia 15 (2018) http://www.heliotropia.org Filostrato: an Unintentional Comedy? he storyline of Filostrato is easy to sum up: Troiolo, who is initially presented as a Hippolytus-type character, falls in love with Criseida. T Thanks to the mediation of Pandaro, mezzano d’amore, Troiolo and Criseida can very soon meet and enjoy each other’s love. Criseida is then unfortunately sent to the Greek camp, following an exchange of prisoners between the fighting opponents. Here she once again very quickly falls in love, this time with the Achaean warrior Diomedes. After days of emotional turmoil, Troiolo accidentally finds out about the affair: Diomedes is wearing a piece of jewellery that he had previously given to his lover as a gift.1 The young man finally dies on the battlefield in a rather abrupt fashion: “avendone già morti più di mille / miseramente un dì l’uccise Achille” [And one day, after a long stalemate, when he already killed more than a thou- sand, Achilles slew him miserably] (8.27.7–8). This very minimal plot is told in about 700 ottave (roughly the equivalent of a cantica in Dante’s Comme- dia), in which dialogues, monologues, and laments play a major role. In fact, they tend to comment on the plot, rather than feed it. I would insert the use of love letters within Filostrato under this pragmatic rationale: the necessity to diversify and liven up a plot which we can safely call flimsy. We could read the insertion of Cino da Pistoia’s “La dolce vista e ’l bel sguardo soave” (5.62–66) under the same lens: a sort of diegetic sublet that incorporates the words of someone else, in this case in the form of a poetic homage.2 Italian critics have insisted on the elegiac nature of Filostrato, while at the same time hinting at its ambiguous character, mainly in terms of not 1 “Un fermaglio / d’oro, lì posto per fibbiaglio” [a brooch of gold, set there perchance as clasp] (8.9).
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare, Aristotle, And
    Colloquium on Violence & Religion Conference 2003 “Passions in Economy, Politics, and the Media. In Discussion with Christian Theology” University of Innsbruck, Austria (3.2 Literature) 14:00-15:30, Friday, June 20, 2003 Shakespeare, The ‘Prophet of Modern Advertising’, Aristotle, the ‘Strange Fellow’, and Ben Jonson and in Mimetic Rivalry the ‘Poets’ War’ Christopher S. Morrissey Department of Humanities 8888 University Drive Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 PGP email: Key ID 0x6DD0285F Background: Achilles asks Ulysses at Troilus and Cressida 3.3.95 what he is reading. Ulysses reports what “a strange fellow”, an unnamed author, teaches him through the book, which he does not name (96-102). Achilles retorts emphatically that what Ulysses reports is quite commonplace and “not strange at all” (103-112). Many modern commentators have not hesitated to take Achilles’ side on the issue. They regard what is voiced (e.g. “beauty … commends itself to others’ eyes”: 104-106) as commonplace, finding the substance of Ulysses’ report (96-102) and Achilles’ paraphrase of it (103-112) in a variety of ancient and Renaissance sources. In a previous play, however, Shakespeare had a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses brought onstage as a plot device (Titus Andronicus 4.1.42). Perhaps the same kind of self-conscious literary event is occurring in Troilus and Cressida, for Ulysses goes on to answer Achilles’ protest. He argues that the commonplaces (with which both Achilles and the modern commentators profess familiarity) are treated by the unnamed author in a decidedly different fashion (113-127). William R. Elton has suggested that the unnamed author is Aristotle and that the book to which the passage alludes is the Nicomachean Ethics (1129b30-3; cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: a Commentary
    University of Alberta Shakespeare's 'Itoüus and Cressida: A Commentary Lise Maren Signe Mills O A thesis subrnitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial Mllment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Department of Politicai Science Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2000 National tibrary Bibiii ue nationale 1+i OfCamda du Cana% A uisitions and Acquisitions et B%graphii Seivicas seMces bubliographiques 385 W- Süwt 395. lue WellGngtm OttawaON K1AON4 OltawaON K1AW Canada CMada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une iicence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Lbrary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distniute or seil reproduire, prêter, distriilmer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de niicrofiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author rehownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thése ni des exbraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de de-ci ne doivent êeimprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Troilus and Cressida is aot a play for the sentimental. Those who yeam for a seductive taie of brave waniors heroicaliy defendhg the honour of fair maidens would be better suited reading sornething hmHarlequin Romance. This thesis explores how, using the ancient story of the Trojan War as his foudation, Shakespeare strips love and glory--the two favorite motivations of men and women in popuiar romances-of their usual reverence.
    [Show full text]
  • Intersectionality, Tragedy, and William Shakespeare Anna Flores Union College - Schenectady, NY
    Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2015 “Listen to Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, and William Shakespeare Anna Flores Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Flores, Anna, "“Listen to Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, and William Shakespeare" (2015). Honors Theses. 302. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/302 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Listen to Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, and William Shakespeare Anna Flores EGL 401/402 Honors Thesis, Department of English Union College March 2015 _____________________________ Jillmarie Murphy Department of English Supervising Professor _____________________________ Patricia Wareh Department of English Second Reader 1 Abstract “Listen to Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, and William Shakespeare Anna Flores, BA English Union College, 2015 Supervisor: Jillmarie Murphy Centuries after his own lifetime, William Shakespeare dominates the Western canon and continues to have a profound effect on Western society. As the values of that society shift and social movements progress, so too must critical reception of Shakespeare's work. The purpose of this thesis is to reexamine Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1601), Othello (1604), and Antony and Cleopatra (1606) through a feminist lens in order to expose the larger societal issues addressed within the play. This thesis draws on Intersectionality, a modern branch of feminism, to discuss sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia within Shakespeare’s texts and the way in which they function to create the tragic ending of each play.
    [Show full text]
  • Chaucer's Troilus and Shakespeare's Troilus
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1989 Chaucer's Troilus and Shakespeare's Troilus: A Comparison of Their eclinesD Laura Devon Flesor Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Flesor, Laura Devon, "Chaucer's Troilus and Shakespeare's Troilus: A Comparison of Their eD clines" (1989). Masters Theses. 2408. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2408 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. · Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion
    [Show full text]
  • Illusion in Troilus and Cressida
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 4-16-2010 Illusion in Troilus and Cressida Edward Janz University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Janz, Edward, "Illusion in Troilus and Cressida" (2010). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1667 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Illusion in Troilus and Cressida by Edward Janz A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Hunt Hawkins, Ph.D. Elaine Smith, Ph.D. Joyce Karpay, Ph.D. Date of Approval: April 16, 2010 Keywords: Shakespeare, drama, satire, love, war © Copyright 2010, Edward Janz Table of Contents Abstract ii Introduction 1 Helen and the Value of War 5 Ulysses and the Value of Identity 17 Couples and the Value of Love 33 Conclusion 52 Works Cited 54 i Illusion in Troilus and Cressida Edward Janz ABSTRACT This thesis is an examination of Shakespeare’s 1603 satire Troilus and Cressida that looks at illusion and the value given to it by means of war, Helen of Troy, and ultimately the two lovers themselves. Although it is depressingly obvious throughout the drama that life is an illusion, it is also obvious that there is a need for that illusion, and an equally profound necessity to have the illusion debunked.
    [Show full text]
  • Food and Disillusion in Troilus and Cressida
    東洋大学人間科学総合研究所紀要 第20号（2018）57‐7357 Fair Fruit in an Unwholesome Dish; Food and Disillusion in Troilus and Cressida Michael RANDOLPH＊ Every play, certainly every Shakespeare play can be imagined to have a vicarious smell about it. After one reads through the texts or sees a successful and well-performed production, one can get a sense of how that plays subconsciously smells. Elsinore smells like a musty old castle, Arden smells like a forest in springtime, the Comedy of Errors smells like a spice merchant bazar, and while the Tempest is wrapped in the deep salty smell of the sea, Troilus and Cressida smells like a rotting, festering garbage dump. In this unique play, long in- grained cultural ideals of honor ; love, nobility, heroism, and gender are decaying and dissolving before our eyes. The deep, often-violent changes that came with the long death of the old Queen and the arrival of an out- sider, an openly misogynistic King who turned a long and very stable social structure into a very different soci- ety where honor and nobility were gradually being seen as only useful for political or monetary gain. The Essex rebellion in 1601 and the blossoming financial, social, and sexual equality of women in the society showed the English that whatever they had held dear was now dispersing into a new order. Finally London at the time was also sexually very promiscuous, at least for the upper classes. (1) It is important to note that London of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period was also rampant with diseases like plague, smallpox, syphilis, typhus, and malaria all caused by close proximity to other people, including intimacy putting relations between men and women, particularly sexual relations under public scrutiny.
    [Show full text]
  • "The Double Sorwe of Troilus": Experimentation of the Chivalric
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2019 "The oubleD Sorwe of Troilus": Experimentation of the Chivalric and Tragic Genres in Chaucer and Shakespeare Rena Patel Scripps College Recommended Citation Patel, Rena, ""The oubD le Sorwe of Troilus": Experimentation of the Chivalric and Tragic Genres in Chaucer and Shakespeare" (2019). Scripps Senior Theses. 1281. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1281 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “THE DOUBLE SORWE OF TROILUS”: EXPERIMENTATION OF THE CHIVALRIC AND TRAGIC GENRES IN CHAUCER AND SHAKESPEARE by RENA PATEL SUBMITTED TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS PROFESSOR TESSIE PRAKAS PROFESSOR ELLEN RENTZ DECEMBER 14, 2018 Table of Contents Introduction 4 “Litel myn tragedie”: Tragedy in Chaucer’s Chivalric Romance 6 “’Tis but the chance of war”: Chivalry Undermining Shakespeare’s Tragedy 11 “So thenk I n’am but ded, withoute more”: Tragedy of Chivalric Fidelity 15 “Will you walk in, my lord?”: Shakespeare’s Performative Sham of Love 24 “True as Troilus, False as Cressid”: The Endings of Troilus 32 Conclusion 35 Bibliography 37 2 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to offer my deepest admiration and appreciation to Professor Tessie Prakas, without whom this thesis would have never seen the light of day. Her enthusiasm and guidance has been invaluable not just in regards to the writing process, but also in all aspects of my time at Scripps.
    [Show full text]
  • Trojan Horse Or Troilus's Whore? Pandering Statecraft and Political Stagecraft in Troilus and Cressida
    Digital Commons @ Assumption University Philosophy Department Faculty Works Philosophy Department 2013 Trojan Horse or Troilus's Whore? Pandering Statecraft and Political Stagecraft in Troilus and Cressida Nalin Ranasinghe Assumption College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/philosophy-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Ranasinghe, Nalin. "Trojan Horse or Troilus's Whore? Pandering Statecraft and Political Stagecraft in Troilus and Cressida." Shakespeare and the Body Politic. Edited by Bernard J. Dobski and Dustin Gish. Lexington Books, 2013, pp. 139-150. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy Department at Digital Commons @ Assumption University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Department Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Assumption University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Chapter Seven Trojan Horse or Troilus's Whore? Pandering Statecraft and Political Stagecraft in Troilus and Cressida N alin Ranasinghe Although Shakespeare's rancid play Troilus and Cressida is evidently not suited for all markets and tastes, it yet contains much dark wisdom to reward one willing to probe its sordid surface. This chapter will expose the workings of its hidden Prince-Ulysses-who silently performs deeds that undercut the exoteric meaning of his stately speech in praise of degree. By winging .'•. ;.· well-chosen words to be intercepted, overheard and misunderstood, as well as by staging spectacles that humble proud allies and poison insecure adver­ saries, Ulysses shows how well his creator had absorbed the teachings of Homer and Machiavelli on vanity and honor.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shakespeare Apocrypha and Canonical Expansion in the Marketplace
    The Shakespeare Apocrypha and Canonical Expansion in the Marketplace Peter Kirwan 1 n March 2010, Brean Hammond’s new edition of Lewis Theobald’s Double Falsehood was added to the ongoing third series of the Arden Shakespeare, prompting a barrage of criticism in the academic press I 1 and the popular media. Responses to the play, which may or may not con- tain the “ghost”2 of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s Cardenio, have dealt with two issues: the question of whether Double Falsehood is or is not a forgery;3 and if the latter, the question of how much of it is by Shakespeare. This second question as a criterion for canonical inclusion is my starting point for this paper, as scholars and critics have struggled to define clearly the boundar- ies of, and qualifications for, canonicity. James Naughtie, in a BBC radio interview with Hammond to mark the edition’s launch, suggested that a new attribution would only be of interest if he had “a big hand, not just was one of the people helping to throw something together for a Friday night.”4 Naughtie’s comment points us toward an important, unqualified aspect of the canonical problem—how big does a contribution by Shakespeare need to be to qualify as “Shakespeare”? The act of inclusion in an editedComplete Works popularly enacts the “canonization” of a work, fixing an attribution in print and commodifying it within a saleable context. To a very real extent, “Shakespeare” is defined as what can be sold as Shakespearean. Yet while canonization operates at its most fundamental as a selection/exclusion binary, collaboration compli- cates the issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Chaucer's Depiction of Women in Troilus and Criseyde
    DePauw University Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University Student research Student Work 4-2020 Friend or Foe: Chaucer’s Depiction of Women in Troilus and Criseyde Vanessa Balis DePauw University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Balis, Vanessa, "Friend or Foe: Chaucer’s Depiction of Women in Troilus and Criseyde" (2020). Student research. 133. https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch/133 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student research by an authorized administrator of Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Balis 1 Friend or Foe: Chaucer’s Depiction of Women in Troilus and Criseyde Vanessa Balis DePauw University Honor Scholar Program Class of 2020 Primary Thesis Sponsor: Dr. Amity Reading Committee Members: Dr. Nicole Lobdell and Dr. Jonathan Nichols-Pethick Balis 2 Abstract Often considered the father of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340s-1400 CE) produced a number of famous poems during his lifetime, the most famous arguably being The Canterbury Tales. But another of his works, Troilus and Criseyde, is often considered the best example of both his poetic ability and his creative use of sources.1 In this thesis, I will be considering whether Chaucer supports or subverts a patriarchal social structure, specifically by looking at his representation of women in Troilus and Criseyde in comparison to his source Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato.
    [Show full text]