Troilus and Cressida

Roles

• Cressida - Teenager (13-19), Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50), Female

About this piece

Cressida confesses she loves Troilus back

Summary

The prologue introduces us to the story. The play is about the Trojan War, the mythological war between Troy and several Greek kings led by Menelaus of Sparta. The war starts when Paris of Troy steals the beautiful Helen from Menelaus. In response, the Spartan king gathers 69 princes from several cities in Greece and attacks Troy in order to rescue Helen. The play starts in the middle of the war, that is 7 years after the war started. In the first scene of the play, before Troilus decides to join the Trojan army in a battle against the Greeks, he meets with Pandarus, who is the uncle of his love interest, Cressida. Troilus tells him how much he loves his niece and Pandarus tells him he is doing anything he can to help him win her heart. Pandarus later meets Cressida and praises Troilus' qualities saying he is even more valiant than Hector, a prince of Troy and one of the greatest warriors of the city. When Troilus passes by them Pandarus continues his praise. At the end of the scene Cressida is alone and confesses that she likes Troilus too but she is holding him off since she argues that the real pleasure is "in the doing" and "men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is". She has decides not to show her love for him and enjoy his courtship.

Tone

Use cases