Troilus and Cressida

Written by William Shakespeare

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

‘He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood beget hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.’

Shakespeare’s epic tale of war, love and loss

Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, as war rages around them. After vowing to be faithful, Cressida is traded to the Greek camp, where she then agrees to see another man. Troilus witnesses Cressida's unfaithfulness and vows to put more effort into the war. The play ends after further deaths on both sides, and with no resolution in sight.

All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.

Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.

The full cast includes:John Sheppard; Gary Watson; Anthony White; Julian Pettifer; John Barton; David Gibson; Clive Swift; Donald Beves; John Wilders; Noel Annan; James Taylor‑Whitehead; Tony Church; George Rylands; John Barton; John Arnott; David Buck; Peter Woodthorpe; Anthony Jacobs; Wendy Gifford; Christine Baker; Dorothy Mulcahy; Irene Worth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Nov 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008443207

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare ha sido considerado unánimemente como el escritor más importante de la literatura universal. Se mantiene que nació el 23 de abril de 1564 y consta que fue bautizado, tres días más tarde, en Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Cuatro años después de su llegada a Londres hacia 1588, ya había obtenido un notable éxito como dramaturgo y actor teatral, lo que pronto le valió el mecenazgo de Henry Wriothesley, tercer conde de Southampton. De haberse dedicado únicamente a la poesía, Shakespeare habría pasado de todas formas a la historia por poemas como Venus y Adonis, La violación de Lucrecia o sus Sonetos. Sin embargo, fue en el campo del teatro donde Shakespeare realizó grandes y trascendentales logros. No en vano es el responsable principal del florecimiento del teatro isabelino, uno de los mascarones de proa de la incipiente hegemonía mundial de Inglaterra. A lo largo de su carrera escribió, modificó y colaboró en decenas de obras teatrales, de las cuales podemos atribuirle plenamente treinta y ocho, que perviven en nuestros días gracias a su genio y talento. William Shakespeare murió el 23 de abril de 1616 en su ciudad natal, habiendo conocido el favor del público y el éxito económico.

Reviews for Troilus and Cressida

[pnorman4345 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cynical version of incidents in the Trojan war. An over-romantic Troilus thinks he is in love with Cressida. (She has the part of a life time.) She is young, sexy, flirtatious and aware of her need to make our for herself while the time is ripe. She is traded to the Greeks for a warrior and immediately starts flirting. Troilus is devasted by this when he sees her behavior. The other incident is Achilles' murder of Hector. It is ugly.

[dgrachel · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just didn't get this one. I tried print and audio and ended up going back to print to read the whole thing, but I still couldn't tell you much of anything that I read. I know my eyes moved across the page, but for some reason the words just refused to sink in. Possibly part of the problem is that I detest Ancient Greek history. I've never enjoyed it. However, I really liked Margaret George's novel Helen of Troy, so I thought I'd be okay here. I wasn't. I know it was a cultural norm both in Shakespeare's time and it seems to still be a norm today, but women being treated as property is a theme that angers me. The way Cressida was treated makes my blood boil, and I didn't see anything in her behavior that justified the label of "whore". Again, I obviously missed the message of the play. I didn't like any of the characters. I found no humor in the story. But, I finished, so I can check another of Shakespeare's plays off my to-read list.

[therebelprince · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Blissful scholarly edition of this play. For new readers, I'd recommend the Penguin or the Oxford, but the Arden really is number one for professionals and scholars.

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A landmark for me. In this “Year of Reading All the Shakespeare,” this play, the twenty-first in the list, is the first one that I'd never read before and really enjoyed. To me, Titus Andronicus was a pointless gorefest, Two Gentlemen of Verona was just dumb, and King Edward III was simply incoherent, but this – well, it's not great – not a Hamlet or Macbeth or Richard II – but it's very good. While I'm quite familiar with the Iliad, the story of Troilus and Cressida was new to me. Aside from knowing that they were famous “sundered lovers,” I came to their story pretty much cold. So now I'm curious about Chaucer's take on their tale. Shakespeare keeps to tradition with some characters – Hector is noble, Ulysses is crafty, Nestor is … verbose – but several “regulars” lose the sheen they generally have and are merely (if fairly plausibly) thugs (or, in Helen's case, a “floozy”). Achilles in particular, comes off dreadfully. Thersites, though, who I didn't even remember from the Iliad, is transformed from “nonentity” in Homer to a vividly realized dynamo of evil in Shakespeare's play. His equal opportunity hatred for everyone and everything – Greek or Trojan, male or female – is almost overwhelming in its intensity. Pandarus, another character from the Iliad I'd completely forgotten about, is also memorable in Shakespeare's telling, though in his case it is his sheer creepiness that makes him stand out. Marjorie Garber, in her brilliant Shakespeare After All, points out Pandarus's similarities to Juliet's nurse (in Romeo and Juliet), but, while the nurse is certainly foolish and shows an unwholesome enthusiasm for her young charge's deflowering, her prurience is nothing next to that of Cressida's uncle. Pandarus's eagerness to put his niece and the Trojan prince in bed together and his salacious comments in regard to their activities there are impressively icky. Cressida, unattractive though she is (except physically, I suppose) is at least interesting. A practical girl, with no illusions about her status as an object to be sold. The frequent comparisons between Helen and Cressida, so similar in appearance that the only difference is said to be that Cressida's hair is a shade darker, highlight the hypocrisies of their varying treatments. As Troilus says in the meeting over whether to return Helen and thus end the war...”Were it not glory that we more affectedThan the performance of our heaving spleens,I would not wish a drop of Trojan bloodSpent more in her defense. But, worthy Hector,She is a theme of honor and renown,A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,Whose present courage may beat down our foes,And fame in time to come canonize us”Cressida, however, is traded to the Greeks in return for a captured Trojan leader without a second thought (we are spared the scene where Paris prances around Priam's palace teasing Troilus with a rousing rendition of “Mom and Dad and everyone love me best!). Poor Troilus. He gets marquee status, but his character is distinctly lacking in pizazz. The play's “Ken doll,” he gets the girl, only to immediately lose her to a more powerful, more interesting man. Oh well. Their long term prospects weren't promising anyway.Along with reading the Folger Shakespeare Library edition, which has reasonable size print and fine notes, I listened to the Arkangel recording of this play, which is very well done. Recommended.

[saturnloft · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one of Shakespeare's problem plays, meaning it doesn't fit neatly into the category of tragedy or comedy, but occupies its own hybrid niche. "Black comedy" or "scathing satire" would probably be a fairly apt description for this outing. It's actually a lot of fun to read, especially if you like humor flavored with a heavy dose of cynicism.The "romantic" leads of the play's title, Troilus and Cressida, are no Romeo and Juliet. Not even by a long shot. Troilus is a superficial lad, concerned only with glory and momentary pleasures, and his love for Cressida lasts only about as long as her maidenhood. Cressida is just as fickle as her lover, swiftly shifting her physical affections to the enemy camp when she gets traded for ransom. This play is very anachronistic. It's not the sort of tale that resides in the ancient dusty battles of Greek times; it's very much a product of Shakespeare's era. This is what makes it such an interesting read for me. It reflects the rapidly changing world of a burgeoning global market, a place where chaos, hypocrisy, and corruption were rife. There are numerous references in the play to venereal disease, especially the notorious pox (syphilis), which was just beginning its lengthy reign in Europe.I do love it when Shakespeare gets gross, and he obliges his disgusting side with unapologetic alacrity here. "Thou crusty botch of nature", "thou sarsenet flap for a sore eye", and so on.. Shakespeare is a demigod when it comes to heinous insults, and Troilus and Cressida is brimful of humdingers.I also love Shakespeare plays for the treasure-trove of words, some of which should still be in use instead of being consigned to obscurity.Two words from this play that caught my fancy:Oppugnancy - meaning opposition. I like its bouncy character, like a rubber ball on the tongue.Gloze - a verb meaning to comment, make excuses for, or to use ingratiating language.

[anthonywillard · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

** spoiler alert **This is a pretty good play. It doesn't fit the usual categories, being filled with comic scenes and speeches but following with an abrupt bleak ending. I found the dialogue throughout to be entertaining and clever, and the spoof of the Iliad very funny. The eponymous love affair is satirical. Troilus is a narcissistic and wordy brat, and Cressida a rather winning girl who can't say no. The love affair is at best a subplot to the Iliad satire, and it's most entertaining character the go-between Pandarus, who remarks that his name will be inherited by all panders to follow. Most of the main Iliad characters are presented satirically. All ends in a lengthy battle with many short scenes of individual combat, ending with the death of Hector in a rather unheroic attack by Achilles and his Myrmidons. Then a final comic soliloquy by Pandarus. If you like bawdy Shakespeare there is a lot of it here, including a large stock of gay humor in the Greek camp.

[barbaranyc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my favorites of Shakespeare's work. It's been a LONG time since I've read it, so I plan to reread it at some point.

[jhudsui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

You know what I just don't get this play. Apparently a lot of people don't get it and it's labeled one of the "problem plays", but you know what, Timon of Athens was one of those too and that play made perfect sense to me. But this one.. just seems like a bunch of random shit that happens. Looking at the wikipedia writeup (which is not really the best source for this kind of information) I see it suggested that the joke is that a variety of conventionally epic tragedies are set up, and then subverted by either not resolving themselves or resolving themselves in the sort of petty venal way they'd happen in real life. In retrospect I can kind of sort of see that but it's not funny to me. Also the structure/pacing is really bizarre. Practically nothing happens in the first four acts and then the fifth act has like a dozen scenes and takes up a third of the page count.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This play is not greatly to my taste. But it does work on stage, and is a surviving work of the great writer. Imogen, the King's daughter is falsely accused of adultery, by the machinations of Iachimo, who creates an appearance of the deed. Imogen flees her father's court, but does recover her position by an unlikely series of events. the play did not give birth to the usual number of later clichés in language.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A Comedy in the sense that most of the characters come out alive, but not much humor to it. A love tragedy which ends Happily Ever After.

I enjoyed the reading of this, and watching the BBC production of it. I would like to have a talk with Imogen about her everlasting love for a man who put out a hit on her because of circumstantial evidence, no matter how damning, but other than that it was one of the more satisfying plays I've read recently. I love the part of Pisanio, the servant. In my eyes, he is the man who deserves all praise. If I were ever to direct this play, he would be the focus. A level-headed man amongst all the flighty nobility.

[et.carole · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is definitely my favorite Shakespeare plays. It serves as a mashup of all of them, in terms of plot content, and I think that it has some of Shakespeare's most vivid characterizations. It also seems to have fewer vulgar jokes, so that makes it much more enjoyable. Altogether, a tough read, but an excellent one.

[TaldanaHaalo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Troilus and Cressida is a work that initially generates a lot of expectation, as it is set during the Battle of Troy, the war between the Greeks and Trojans. The play features most of the characters from the Iliad, but the main characters are Troilus, the youngest son of Priam, king of Troy, and brother of the great Hector and Paris, while on the other side are the most famous Greek characters: Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Diomedes, Ajax, Patroclus, etc.

With this preamble, it is clear that the play generates a lot of expectation, but as the story progresses, Troilus and Cressida are overshadowed by the characters of the Iliad, and Shakespeare highlights their majesty. Indeed, the story of Troilus and Cressida is a very fleeting romance that lacks much relevance; the tales of the great warriors completely overshadow it.

P.S. In this Shakespearean story, its protagonists do not die ????, which is a rare thing; the story is the weakest one I've read by the great William. (Translated from Spanish)

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I sensed that Shakespeare trying to reuse his favorite dramatic devices, including: jealous lovers, wronged women, plucky heroines, male impersonation, scheming villains, idyllic landscapes, wise clowns. I also couldn't help noticing that, although the Bard called the play a tragedy, he was using a romantic comedy / adventure plot. He also gave the "tragedy" a happy ending, albeit a very complicated one. He had to unwind a large number of plot entanglements in one act. I found that complicated to read and wondered how it could be staged without turning into a train wreck. Despite that, I quite enjoyed reading the play, a rousing adventure with great characters. I thought was a vast improvement over the collaborations and a welcome lightening of tone.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Willie seems to have been fixated on men who don't trust their wives. Maybe Anne was fooling around on him. Kind of a weird meandering story. Too many elements to maintain my interest.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of Shakespeare’s most convoluted plots. It combines bits and pieces from his greatest works, but in a strange way. There’s a battle to rival that in Henry V, parental ghosts like Hamlet, a jealous husband like Othello and ill-fated lovers and faked death like Romeo and Juliet. In the midst of this jumble are the old standbys, a woman pretending to be a young page and banished people living in the forest. This play is divisive among Shakespeare scholars when it comes to its categorization, some consider it a tragedy and others a romance.

King Cymbeline of Britain is furious when he finds out his only daughter, Imogen, has secretly married Posthumus Leonatus, a man from his court. He quickly banishes Posthumus from his kingdom and shortly thereafter Posthumus meets Iachimo in Italy. He tells his new friend all about his beautiful Imogen. Iachimo isn’t impressed and makes a bet with Posthumus regarding her honor. Add in a devious Queen plotting the King’s death, her horrid son Cloten, missing heirs to the throne, warring Romans and a beheading and you’ve got the gist of it.

BOTTOM LINE: A strange mishmash of Shakespearean themes, but a satisfying if contrived ending. I’d love to see this one performed, but until then I’ll have to settle for the wild ride the play takes you on.  

[birdie.newborn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This "history" play of Shakespeare's is probably not part of the Tudor campaign for legitimacy, but gives a glimpse into early Britain. A headstrong woman, one of many from Shakespeare -- makes one wonder about his personal life…

[amerynth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Cymbeline" was one of the few Shakespeare plays that I'd never heard of before embarking on my quest to read them all. So, I really didn't have particularly high hopes that I'd enjoy it.

While certainly not amongst the bard's best works, I was surprised to find I enjoyed this play quite a bit. I found it to be well-paced and I enjoyed the interactions between the characters. It had a lot of elements that are typical Shakespeare -- from Imogen's travels disguised by man, to a sad King tossing a child out into the wild, to hidden identities that are revealed at the end.

It isn't a perfect play, as there are lots of characters floating about, making it a bit challenging to follow and the ending all sort of tumbles together (happily) for no particular reason.

That said, I still liked the overall story.

[magnuscanis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Of the Shakespeare plays I've read so far (probably about a dozen or so), this is probably my favourite. I find it difficult to pinpoint exactly why I liked it so much, but I did. The final scene, in particular, is well described as a theatrical tour de force as it relentlessly brings one revelation after another to tie up all the various subplots and bring about the reconciliation of all the still-living characters.

[deptstoremook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was heartened to read in the New York Times today that I wasn't the only one who was knocked off-course by the almost deliberately confusing plot and character interactions.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shaw disliked the complex ending, but I found it very funny.