I don’t remember what I called the finished paper ackshully (I know, it was just last term too) but here’s the abstract.
Much of the play Troilus and Cresside takes place in a thematic no-man’s-land, an indecisive gray place that sets the tone for the rest of the acts. Far from the besieged Trojan kingdom and rough Greek war-camp of Homer, Shakespeare paints a Troy that is bustling with city business and a Greek camp with a Persian degree of luxury. At the end of the day the two enemies are happy to sit back and raise glasses together in friendship, and while the enemies commune, neither elicits the audience’s sympathy.
This ambiguous background signals that all is not well. Misplaced trust and uncertain values are fought for at the price of true love, honesty, and anything that is worth fighting for, and Shakespeare makes this poignantly clear. Troilus and Cresside is a sordid play. Love is diseased, love is “fortune’s food” (5.2.198), and, above all, a lover cannot be held to his word. Instead of dismissing the play as the offshoot of Shakespeare in a cynical mood, the case can be made that Troilus and Cresside is making the point that Troy was ready to fall because it had nothing to stand on.
Ah, poor Yorick, I remember it well – the paper ackshully ended up being on absolute value and worth. But here’s the abstract schpiel – ballywell commercial, wot?
violetskye
You are insightful