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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.
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