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Troilus and Cressida Presentation.pptx

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Paul Hricik
Paul Hricik

Background of the people and places in William Shakespeare's ancient Greek play: "Troilus and Cressida."

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Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare Background Presentation by Paul Hricik
In Troy lies the scene [but] our play Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils, Beginning in the middle, starting thence away To what may be digested in a play. Like or find fault; do as your pleasures are: Now good or bad, 'tis but the chance of war. -Act I Prologue 2
Plot Summary
Major Events Of the Trojan War 1. King Menelaus of Sparta marries Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, and daughter of Zeus. 2. Prince Paris of Troy judges a beauty contest between three goddesses. Venus wins the contest after bribing Paris with the promise of Helen for his wife. Left- The Judgment of Paris by Enrique Simonet, 1904. 3. Claiming his prize, Paris steals Helen from her homeland, and takes her to Troy. 4. Outraged by Paris¡¯ theft, Menelaus and his brother King Agamemnon declare war on Troy, sending 1000 ships to find Helen and destroy the Trojans. 5. To ensure success against Troy, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter, Iphigenia. The gods now take sides with the Greeks and Trojans in the war. 6. For 10 years the Greeks fight the Trojans. The two fiercest warriors are the Greek hero Achilles, and the Trojan prince Hector. Eventually Achilles kills Hector, and is killed in turn murdered by Paris himself.
Events Of the Trojan War 2 7. To get inside the massive walls of Troy, the Greeks construct a giant wooden horse and hide inside. Thinking that it is a gift, the Trojans wheel it inside the walls and leave it. The Greeks burst out of the horse, open the gates, and begin to slaughter everyone in Troy. 8. Achilles¡¯ son Neoptolemus, kills Hector¡¯s father, Priam, (left). 9. Menelaus captures Helen and brings her back to Sparta. 10. Hecuba¡¯s daughter Cassandra tries to hide from the Greeks in the temple of Athena, but she is caught, and given to Agamemnon as a concubine. 11. Hecuba discovers that her last two children are to be killed, and goes mad with grief, barking like a dog around anyone who gets too close to her. 12. Having destroyed Troy, the Greeks return home, to violent fates; Agamemnon is murdered, and Odysseus wonders for 20 years before returning to his kingdom in Ithaca. The Burning of Troy (1759/62), oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann
Character Descriptions The Greeks - Agamemnon - Achilles - Patroclus - Ulysses - Ajax - Dimedes - Aeneas - Meneleus - Thersites - Nestor - The Myrmidons The Trojan Warriors - Hector - Paris - Antenor - Deiphobus - Helenus The Lovers - Troilus - Cressida - Pandarus 6
7 The Trojans
House of Troy- Hecuba and Priam ¡ñPriam and Hecuba¡¯s children: (the ones in bold appear in Shakespeare¡¯s play) ¡ñ Antiphus ¡ñCassandra ¡ñHector ¡ñHelenus ¡ñHipponous ¡ñLaodice ¡ñPammon ¡ñParis ¡ñPolites ¡ñTroilus
Troilus Who: The youngest son of Priam and the hero of the play What: He courts Cressida, without really getting to know her. My 2 cents: Scholars have described Troilus¡¯ arc as what would¡¯ve happened if Romeo hadn¡¯t died. He rushes into romance so fast, he never rquestions whether trying to date a woman during a war is a good idea. Ultimately, Troilus is a romantic dupe who loves being in love, but never thinks about the possible consequences. Troilus in the 2013 Hillcrest High production of ¡°Troilus and Cressida¡±
Cressida Who: A Trojan noblewoman and heroine of the play What: She courts Troilus, (after feigning indifference), but after they spend the night together, she is forced to go to the Greek camp and give herself to Diomedes My 2 cents: Cressida is the true tragic figure of the play. Unlike the other Trojans she¡¯s a realist and knows that men crave what they can¡¯t have, so she tempts and teases Troilus instead of directly courting him. To compare Cressida to Juliet, Cressida needs no balcony to keep men at arm¡¯s length, and is painfully aware that men leave women once thay have possessed them. Compared to her, Juliet seems very naive.. Women are angels, wooing: Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing. ¡°I¡¯ll prove more true than those that have more cunning to be strange.¡±
Cressida 2 When she is forced into the Greek camp, Cressida is stripped of her agency. She simply has to seduce Diomedes to save her own life. She desperately wants not to, and tries to preserve Troilus¡¯ love token of a sleeve, but Diomedes has taken her power away. Like Helen, Cressida is considered a prize to be won by the Greeks, and the only agency she has is her virginity
Pandarus Who: Cressida¡¯s uncle What: Pandarus sets her up with Troilus and laments when she has to leave him. Pandarus is the best comic relief in the play. He clearly loves them both and is appalled that Cressida¡¯s father exchanges his life for hers. In the end, defeated and sad that only war and letchery have prevailed, he delivers a cynical speech the audience about his venereal diseases: Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall; Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases, And at that time bequeath you my diseases. -Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene x.
Hecuba ¡ñHecuba is the wife of King Priam of Troy. Before the war, she was queen of one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. The walls of Troy reportedly stood for 1,000 years. Hecuba and Priam had over 50 children, 13 of which were Hecuba¡¯s biological children. Her first son, Hector, was the greatest warrior in the history of Troy, while her second son, Paris was responsible for beginning the Trojan War. Before his birth, Hecuba dreamed her child would bring about the burning of her city, but decided to spare his life. After Paris abducted Helen of Troy, Hecuba watched all her children die, her city burn, and her status as queen reduced to slavery. ¡ñWords that Come to Mind: ¡ñOld ¡ñSad ¡ñQueen/Beggar ¡ñBroken ¡ñAfter the war, Hecuba went mad with grief and began barking like a
Chorus of Trojan Women ¡ñWho are they? ¡ñIn Hecuba, the Chorus plays a group of Trojan women, likely the wives of the deceased soldiers since Hecuba¡¯s attendants are in the tents offstage. ¡ñThe Greek Chorus ¡ñDuring the City Dionysia, (the festival of plays dedicated to the god Dionysus) three wealthy patrons or Choregos found and paid to find men between the ages of 17-21 to play the chorus. This means that the chorus was made of professional actors who needed to know how to dance and sing. ¡ñIn the beginning of Greek theatre, there were no actors, only the chorus. Their job was to sing long
The Greeks 15
Thersites The ugly servant of Achilles, who is essentially a cynical clown. He hates the dishonesty and cruelty of the Greeks, and how the whole war is being fought over the lusts of Paris and ¡°Wars and letchery, nothing else holds fashion.¡± -Thersites
Agamemnon ¡ñKing of Mycene in mainland Greece. Brother of King Menelaus, and the commander of the Greeks during the Trojan War. ¡ñPrimary word- Politician. In the old sense of the word, a Politician, is someone who only acts out of self-interest and self- preservation. Rather than being concerned with ethics, Agamemnon does what he thinks will benefit himself and Greece. This is why he is willing to kill his own daughter to get the gods to help him sack Troy. Anyone who read Aeschylus¡¯s play Agamemnon), would have known that Agamemnon¡¯s eventual fate was to be slaughtered by his wife, avenging the murder of his daughter. Thus Agamemnon¡¯s pride and his lack of piety resulted in the death of the foremost king of Greece. The assassination of Agamemnon, an illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church, 1897. "Mask of Agamemnon" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae.
Ulysses (Odysseus) ¡ñWords That Come To Mind: ¡ñClever ¡ñUnscrupulous ¡ñStrategist ¡ñ Ulysses was the king of Ithaca, veteran of the Trojan War, and hero of Homer¡¯s Odyssey. ¡ñIn most versions of the story, Odysseus conceived the idea of the Trojan Horse, the enormous wooden statue that helped get the Greeks get inside and annihilate Troy. ¡ñAfter the war, Agamemnon gave Hecuba to Odysseus as his slave. ¡ñHe was devoted to the goddess Athena, and hence, he was the cleverest man in the army. Statue of Odysseus by Th¨¦ophile (1797-1863) Decorated pithos found at Mykonos, depicting one of the earliest renditions of the Trojan Horse, 670 BC.
The first lines of Homer¡¯s Iliad describe the poem as the story of Achilles¡¯ anger towards Agamemnon, Ajax, and finally Hector. He is the driving force of Homer¡¯s story. Shakespeare¡¯s version makes him a fairly minor character. In both versions, he¡¯s the Greek star player and he knows it, so he sits out battles to get more respect. Shakespeare cuts most of Achilles¡¯ part, except for the animosity he feels towards Hector. He yearns to earn glory by destroying Hector and winning the war. Achilles
Ajax Who: Greek warrior who fights a duel with Hector, but does not kill him. Unlike Achilles, who is known for his cunning as well as his strength, Ajax is a brute, which is why Ulysses and Agamemnon make Ajax the Greek champion to anger Achilles and make him rejoin the fight. Duel between Ajax and Hercules to recover Patroclus' body. De Agostini / G. Dagli Orti
Diomedes Who:Greek prince who later defeats Ane Diomedes is a brute who takes Cressida as his ¡®prize,¡¯ making it completely clear that he intends to molest her. She has absolutely no choice but to pretend to love him so he won¡¯t beat her¡­ or worse. Troilus is completely Odysseus and Diomedes carry off Iphigenia by force. Antique fresco in Pompeii
Greek Soldiers Photos of Greek Armor, (12 century BC). Sources ¡ñFrom Book 10 of The Iliad by Homer: On his head he put a helmet made of leather, without crest or plume, what people call a skull-cap. It protected heads of brave young men. ¡ñGreek soldiers mainly used form- fitting helmets made of tusks, leather, or metal. They carried swords, spears, and small shields. Mycenean Warriors, 8th century. Left and Right- 8th century helmet and breastplate.
Website resource: Internet Shakespeare Editions has lots of great illustrations and pictures of past performances , as well as magazine clippings, programs, and articles. 23 https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/Tro/ For More Information
The Royal Shakespeare company This website has hundreds of pictures from past productions, as well as thoughtful commentary about the plot and character. 24 https://www.rsc.org.uk/troilus-and-cressida/ For More Information2
The Shakespearean Student I¡¯ve made a complete analysis of the characters and plot of ¡°Troilus and Cressida,¡± which you can peruse for free! 25 For More Information 3 https://shakespeareanstudent.com/play-of-the- month-troilus-and-cressida/
Credits Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ? Presentation template by ºÝºÝߣsCarnival ? Photographs by Unsplash ? Paper texture by GraphicBurguer 26
Thanks! Any questions? You can find me at @shakestud & www.shakespeareanstudent.com 27

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Troilus and Cressida Presentation.pptx

  • 1. Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare Background Presentation by Paul Hricik
  • 2. In Troy lies the scene [but] our play Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils, Beginning in the middle, starting thence away To what may be digested in a play. Like or find fault; do as your pleasures are: Now good or bad, 'tis but the chance of war. -Act I Prologue 2
  • 4. Major Events Of the Trojan War 1. King Menelaus of Sparta marries Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, and daughter of Zeus. 2. Prince Paris of Troy judges a beauty contest between three goddesses. Venus wins the contest after bribing Paris with the promise of Helen for his wife. Left- The Judgment of Paris by Enrique Simonet, 1904. 3. Claiming his prize, Paris steals Helen from her homeland, and takes her to Troy. 4. Outraged by Paris¡¯ theft, Menelaus and his brother King Agamemnon declare war on Troy, sending 1000 ships to find Helen and destroy the Trojans. 5. To ensure success against Troy, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter, Iphigenia. The gods now take sides with the Greeks and Trojans in the war. 6. For 10 years the Greeks fight the Trojans. The two fiercest warriors are the Greek hero Achilles, and the Trojan prince Hector. Eventually Achilles kills Hector, and is killed in turn murdered by Paris himself.
  • 5. Events Of the Trojan War 2 7. To get inside the massive walls of Troy, the Greeks construct a giant wooden horse and hide inside. Thinking that it is a gift, the Trojans wheel it inside the walls and leave it. The Greeks burst out of the horse, open the gates, and begin to slaughter everyone in Troy. 8. Achilles¡¯ son Neoptolemus, kills Hector¡¯s father, Priam, (left). 9. Menelaus captures Helen and brings her back to Sparta. 10. Hecuba¡¯s daughter Cassandra tries to hide from the Greeks in the temple of Athena, but she is caught, and given to Agamemnon as a concubine. 11. Hecuba discovers that her last two children are to be killed, and goes mad with grief, barking like a dog around anyone who gets too close to her. 12. Having destroyed Troy, the Greeks return home, to violent fates; Agamemnon is murdered, and Odysseus wonders for 20 years before returning to his kingdom in Ithaca. The Burning of Troy (1759/62), oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann
  • 6. Character Descriptions The Greeks - Agamemnon - Achilles - Patroclus - Ulysses - Ajax - Dimedes - Aeneas - Meneleus - Thersites - Nestor - The Myrmidons The Trojan Warriors - Hector - Paris - Antenor - Deiphobus - Helenus The Lovers - Troilus - Cressida - Pandarus 6
  • 8. House of Troy- Hecuba and Priam ¡ñPriam and Hecuba¡¯s children: (the ones in bold appear in Shakespeare¡¯s play) ¡ñ Antiphus ¡ñCassandra ¡ñHector ¡ñHelenus ¡ñHipponous ¡ñLaodice ¡ñPammon ¡ñParis ¡ñPolites ¡ñTroilus
  • 9. Troilus Who: The youngest son of Priam and the hero of the play What: He courts Cressida, without really getting to know her. My 2 cents: Scholars have described Troilus¡¯ arc as what would¡¯ve happened if Romeo hadn¡¯t died. He rushes into romance so fast, he never rquestions whether trying to date a woman during a war is a good idea. Ultimately, Troilus is a romantic dupe who loves being in love, but never thinks about the possible consequences. Troilus in the 2013 Hillcrest High production of ¡°Troilus and Cressida¡±
  • 10. Cressida Who: A Trojan noblewoman and heroine of the play What: She courts Troilus, (after feigning indifference), but after they spend the night together, she is forced to go to the Greek camp and give herself to Diomedes My 2 cents: Cressida is the true tragic figure of the play. Unlike the other Trojans she¡¯s a realist and knows that men crave what they can¡¯t have, so she tempts and teases Troilus instead of directly courting him. To compare Cressida to Juliet, Cressida needs no balcony to keep men at arm¡¯s length, and is painfully aware that men leave women once thay have possessed them. Compared to her, Juliet seems very naive.. Women are angels, wooing: Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing. ¡°I¡¯ll prove more true than those that have more cunning to be strange.¡±
  • 11. Cressida 2 When she is forced into the Greek camp, Cressida is stripped of her agency. She simply has to seduce Diomedes to save her own life. She desperately wants not to, and tries to preserve Troilus¡¯ love token of a sleeve, but Diomedes has taken her power away. Like Helen, Cressida is considered a prize to be won by the Greeks, and the only agency she has is her virginity
  • 12. Pandarus Who: Cressida¡¯s uncle What: Pandarus sets her up with Troilus and laments when she has to leave him. Pandarus is the best comic relief in the play. He clearly loves them both and is appalled that Cressida¡¯s father exchanges his life for hers. In the end, defeated and sad that only war and letchery have prevailed, he delivers a cynical speech the audience about his venereal diseases: Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall; Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases, And at that time bequeath you my diseases. -Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene x.
  • 13. Hecuba ¡ñHecuba is the wife of King Priam of Troy. Before the war, she was queen of one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. The walls of Troy reportedly stood for 1,000 years. Hecuba and Priam had over 50 children, 13 of which were Hecuba¡¯s biological children. Her first son, Hector, was the greatest warrior in the history of Troy, while her second son, Paris was responsible for beginning the Trojan War. Before his birth, Hecuba dreamed her child would bring about the burning of her city, but decided to spare his life. After Paris abducted Helen of Troy, Hecuba watched all her children die, her city burn, and her status as queen reduced to slavery. ¡ñWords that Come to Mind: ¡ñOld ¡ñSad ¡ñQueen/Beggar ¡ñBroken ¡ñAfter the war, Hecuba went mad with grief and began barking like a
  • 14. Chorus of Trojan Women ¡ñWho are they? ¡ñIn Hecuba, the Chorus plays a group of Trojan women, likely the wives of the deceased soldiers since Hecuba¡¯s attendants are in the tents offstage. ¡ñThe Greek Chorus ¡ñDuring the City Dionysia, (the festival of plays dedicated to the god Dionysus) three wealthy patrons or Choregos found and paid to find men between the ages of 17-21 to play the chorus. This means that the chorus was made of professional actors who needed to know how to dance and sing. ¡ñIn the beginning of Greek theatre, there were no actors, only the chorus. Their job was to sing long
  • 16. Thersites The ugly servant of Achilles, who is essentially a cynical clown. He hates the dishonesty and cruelty of the Greeks, and how the whole war is being fought over the lusts of Paris and ¡°Wars and letchery, nothing else holds fashion.¡± -Thersites
  • 17. Agamemnon ¡ñKing of Mycene in mainland Greece. Brother of King Menelaus, and the commander of the Greeks during the Trojan War. ¡ñPrimary word- Politician. In the old sense of the word, a Politician, is someone who only acts out of self-interest and self- preservation. Rather than being concerned with ethics, Agamemnon does what he thinks will benefit himself and Greece. This is why he is willing to kill his own daughter to get the gods to help him sack Troy. Anyone who read Aeschylus¡¯s play Agamemnon), would have known that Agamemnon¡¯s eventual fate was to be slaughtered by his wife, avenging the murder of his daughter. Thus Agamemnon¡¯s pride and his lack of piety resulted in the death of the foremost king of Greece. The assassination of Agamemnon, an illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church, 1897. "Mask of Agamemnon" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae.
  • 18. Ulysses (Odysseus) ¡ñWords That Come To Mind: ¡ñClever ¡ñUnscrupulous ¡ñStrategist ¡ñ Ulysses was the king of Ithaca, veteran of the Trojan War, and hero of Homer¡¯s Odyssey. ¡ñIn most versions of the story, Odysseus conceived the idea of the Trojan Horse, the enormous wooden statue that helped get the Greeks get inside and annihilate Troy. ¡ñAfter the war, Agamemnon gave Hecuba to Odysseus as his slave. ¡ñHe was devoted to the goddess Athena, and hence, he was the cleverest man in the army. Statue of Odysseus by Th¨¦ophile (1797-1863) Decorated pithos found at Mykonos, depicting one of the earliest renditions of the Trojan Horse, 670 BC.
  • 19. The first lines of Homer¡¯s Iliad describe the poem as the story of Achilles¡¯ anger towards Agamemnon, Ajax, and finally Hector. He is the driving force of Homer¡¯s story. Shakespeare¡¯s version makes him a fairly minor character. In both versions, he¡¯s the Greek star player and he knows it, so he sits out battles to get more respect. Shakespeare cuts most of Achilles¡¯ part, except for the animosity he feels towards Hector. He yearns to earn glory by destroying Hector and winning the war. Achilles
  • 20. Ajax Who: Greek warrior who fights a duel with Hector, but does not kill him. Unlike Achilles, who is known for his cunning as well as his strength, Ajax is a brute, which is why Ulysses and Agamemnon make Ajax the Greek champion to anger Achilles and make him rejoin the fight. Duel between Ajax and Hercules to recover Patroclus' body. De Agostini / G. Dagli Orti
  • 21. Diomedes Who:Greek prince who later defeats Ane Diomedes is a brute who takes Cressida as his ¡®prize,¡¯ making it completely clear that he intends to molest her. She has absolutely no choice but to pretend to love him so he won¡¯t beat her¡­ or worse. Troilus is completely Odysseus and Diomedes carry off Iphigenia by force. Antique fresco in Pompeii
  • 22. Greek Soldiers Photos of Greek Armor, (12 century BC). Sources ¡ñFrom Book 10 of The Iliad by Homer: On his head he put a helmet made of leather, without crest or plume, what people call a skull-cap. It protected heads of brave young men. ¡ñGreek soldiers mainly used form- fitting helmets made of tusks, leather, or metal. They carried swords, spears, and small shields. Mycenean Warriors, 8th century. Left and Right- 8th century helmet and breastplate.
  • 23. Website resource: Internet Shakespeare Editions has lots of great illustrations and pictures of past performances , as well as magazine clippings, programs, and articles. 23 https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/Tro/ For More Information
  • 24. The Royal Shakespeare company This website has hundreds of pictures from past productions, as well as thoughtful commentary about the plot and character. 24 https://www.rsc.org.uk/troilus-and-cressida/ For More Information2
  • 25. The Shakespearean Student I¡¯ve made a complete analysis of the characters and plot of ¡°Troilus and Cressida,¡± which you can peruse for free! 25 For More Information 3 https://shakespeareanstudent.com/play-of-the- month-troilus-and-cressida/
  • 26. Credits Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ? Presentation template by ºÝºÝߣsCarnival ? Photographs by Unsplash ? Paper texture by GraphicBurguer 26
  • 27. Thanks! Any questions? You can find me at @shakestud & www.shakespeareanstudent.com 27