Showing posts with label Play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Play. Show all posts

Theatre: King Richard III (August 2018)

King Richard III is a historical play believed to have been written around 1593 as part of the First Folio. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy (also containing Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3).

The play begins with Richard (called "Gloucester" in the text) standing in "a street", describing the re-accession to the throne of his brother, King Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York, implying the year is 1471. ("Sun of York" is a punning reference to the badge of the "blazing sun", which Edward IV adopted, and "son of York", i.e. the son of the Duke of York.)
Richard is an ugly hunchback who plots to have his brother Clarence, who stands before him in the line of succession, conducted to the Tower of London over a prophecy he bribed a soothsayer to finagle the suspicious King. Richard also schemes to woo "the Lady Anne” (Anne Neville), widow of the Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
The scene then changes to reveal Lady Anne accompanying the corpse of the late king Henry VI, along with Trestle and Berkeley, on its way to be interred at St Paul's cathedral. She asks them to set down the load, and then laments the fate of the house of Lancaster. Richard suddenly appears and demands that the men carrying the hearse set it down, at which point a brief verbal wrangling takes place.
Despite initially hating him, Anne is won over by his pleas of love and repentance and agrees to marry him. When she leaves, Richard exults in having won her over despite all he has done to her, and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served her purpose.
The atmosphere at court is poisonous: The established nobles are at odds with the upwardly mobile relatives of Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fueled by Richard's machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns in defiance of her banishment and warns the squabbling nobles about Richard. Queen Margaret curses Richard and the rest who were present. The nobles, all Yorkists, reflexively unite against this last Lancastrian, and the warning falls on deaf ears.
Richard orders two murderers to kill Clarence in the tower. Clarence, meanwhile, relates a dream to his keeper. The dream includes vivid language describing Clarence falling from an imaginary ship as a result of Gloucester, who had fallen from the hatches, striking him. Under the water Clarence sees the skeletons of thousands of men "that fishes gnawed upon". He also sees "wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels". All of these are "scattered in the bottom of the sea". Clarence adds that some of the jewels were in the skulls of the dead. He then imagines dying and being tormented by the ghosts of Warwick (Anne's father), and Edward of Westminster (Anne's deceased husband).
After Clarence falls asleep, Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, enters and observes that between the titles of princes and the low names of commoners, there is nothing different but the "outward fame", meaning that they both have "inward toil" whether rich or poor. When the murderers arrive, he reads their warrant (issued in the name of the King), and exits with the Keeper, who disobeys Clarence's request to stand by him, and leaves the two murderers the keys.
Clarence wakes and pleads with the murderers, saying that men have no right to obey other men's requests for murder, because all men are under the rule of God not to commit murder. The murderers imply Clarence is a hypocrite. Trying to win them over by tactics, he tells them to go to his brother Gloucester, who will reward them better for his life than Edward will for his death. One murderer insists Gloucester himself sent them to perform the bloody act, but Clarence does not believe him. He recalls the unity of Richard Duke of York blessing his three sons with his victorious arm, bidding his brother Gloucester to think about it and weep. Sardonically, a murderer says Gloucester weeps millstones.
Next, one of the murderers explains that his brother Gloucester hates him, and sent them to the Tower to kill him. Eventually, one murderer gives in to his conscience and does not participate, but the other killer stabs Clarence and drowns him. The first act closes with the perpetrator needing to find a hole to bury Clarence.
Richard uses the news of Clarence's unexpected death to send Edward IV, already ill, to his deathbed, all the while insinuating that the Queen is behind the execution of Clarence. Edward IV soon dies, leaving as Protector his brother Richard, who sets about removing the final obstacles to his accession. He has Lord Rivers murdered to further isolate the Queen and to put down any attempts to have the Prince crowned right away. He meets his nephew, the young Edward V, who is on the way to London for his coronation accompanied by relatives of Edward's widow (Lord Rivers, Lord Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan). These Richard arrests, and eventually beheads, and then has a conversation with the Prince and his younger brother, the Duke of York. The two princes outsmart Richard and match his wordplay and use of language easily. Richard is nervous about them, and the potential threat they represent. The young prince and his brother are coaxed (by Richard) into an extended stay at the Tower of London. The prince and his brother the Duke of York prove themselves to be extremely intelligent and charismatic characters, boldly defying and outsmarting Richard and openly mocking him.
Assisted by his cousin Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne, pretending to be a modest, devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to Richard's accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Together, Richard and Buckingham spread the rumor that Edward's two sons are illegitimate, and therefore have no rightful claim to the throne; they are assisted by Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovell. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king, in spite of the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).

Richard asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard then recruits Sir James Tyrrell, who kills both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of Henry, Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his eye on his niece, Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's next remaining heir, and poisons Lady Anne so he can be free to woo the princess. The Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth mourn the princes' deaths, when Queen Margaret arrives. Queen Elizabeth, as predicted, asks Queen Margaret's help in cursing. Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and curses her only surviving son before leaving. Richard asks Queen Elizabeth to help him win her daughter's hand in marriage, but she is not taken in by his eloquence, and eventually manages to trick and stall him by saying she will let him know her daughter's answer in due course.
The increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He soon faces rebellions led first by Buckingham and subsequently by the invading Richmond. Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides arrive for a final battle at Bosworth Field. Prior to the battle, Richard is visited by the ghosts of his victims, all of whom tell him to despair and die, after which they wish victory upon Richmond. He awakes screaming for Jesus to help him, slowly realizing that he is all alone in the world, and cannot even pity himself.
At the Battle of Bosworth Field, Lord Stanley (who is also Richmond's stepfather) and his followers desert Richard's side, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of George Stanley, Lord Stanley's son. This does not happen, as the battle is in full swing, and Richard is left at a disadvantage. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" Richmond kills Richard in the final duel. Subsequently, Richmond succeeds to the throne as Henry VII, and marries Princess Elizabeth from the House of York.

















Theatre: All’s Well That Ends Well (August 2018)

All's Well That Ends Well was written between 1604 and 1605 and published in the First Folio in 1623. Although the play was originally classified as a comedy, it is now considered to be one of his “problem plays”, so named because they cannot be neatly classified as tragedy or comedy.
 The play opens in Rousillon, then a Catalan province of Spain (now in France), where young Count Bertram bids farewell to his mother the Countess and Helena, as he leaves for the court of Paris (with old Lord Lafew) at the French King's order. Bertram's father has recently died and Bertram is to be the King's ward and attendant. Helena, a young minor noblewoman and ward of the Countess, whose father (a gifted doctor) has also recently died, laments her unrequited love for (or infatuation with) Bertram, and losing him to Paris, which weighs on her though it seems to others that she mourns her father. Parolles, a cowardly military man and parasite on Bertram, trades wits with Helena, as they liken amorous love and the loss of virginity to military endeavors. Helena nearly admits her love of Bertram to Parolles before he leaves for Paris with Bertram and Lafew. Alone again, Helena convinces herself to strive for Bertram despite the odds, mentioning the King's illness alongside her decision.

In Paris, the King and noble lords discuss the Tuscan wars, where French nobles join on either side for their own glorification. Bertram, Parolles and Lafew arrive, and the King praises Bertram's father as more truly honorable, humble and egalitarian than the lords of his day or Bertram's. He welcomes Bertram as he would his own son.  
In Rousillon, the Clown asks permission to marry which he and the Countess debate. The Steward explains to the Countess that he has overheard Helena lamenting her love for Bertram despite their social difference. The Countess, with sympathy and seeing Helena as her own daughter, coaxes a confession out of her. Helena admits her love, but (in decorum or strategy) reserves her previously realized ambition. They agree that Helena should travel to Paris to attempt to cure the King, even wagering her life for the opportunity.
In Paris, the King advises the Lords leaving for war, urging them to seek honor with amorous terms and warning them of the Italian women in warlike terms. Bertram, too young to go to war and in Paris to serve the King, is encouraged by Parolles and the Lords to steal away to the Tuscan war. He swears to the Lords that he will, but after they leave he admits (or reconsiders) to Parolles his intention to stay at the King's side.
Lafew asks the King to speak with Helena who offers to cure his fatal disease with her father's most potent and safeguarded recipe. The King acknowledges her late father's renown as a doctor, but refuses to entertain false hope. Through a series of arguments – showing her confidence, appealing to his irrational or mystical side, and underlining her father's reputation – she convinces the King to let heaven work through her. She accepts the King's warning that she will wager her life on the outcome, but to even the scales, she asks that she may choose her husband from the lords at court. The King agrees.
In Rousillon, the Countess sends the Clown to the Paris court with a letter for Helena, but not before the Clown teases the Countess with his impersonation of the courtiers as haughty and equivocating.
Back in Paris, Lafew tries to speak on the powers of heaven in a world of scientists, but Parolles interrupts him at every turn, trying to one-up him and claim Lafew's thoughts as his own. They bring the conversation to the King's miraculous recovery and the woman who cured him. The King and Helena enter, and the men are surprised to learn that the woman is Helena. (Lafew may be in disbelief, as he introduced Helena to the King for this purpose.) The King summons the lords and he and Helena make known their arrangement that she now choose a husband. Helena briefly questions a few of the lords, the first two of which may give perfunctory consent in front of the King, while haughtily equivocating like the Clown demonstrated previously. Helena chooses Bertram by way of giving herself to him, and the King seals her wish. Bertram balks, first asking the King to let his own eyes choose who he marries, then scorning her poverty and lack of (good) title.
The King counters Bertram's protests with offers money and title, and praises Helena variously to Bertram without his objection, but Bertram refuses again despite the King's practical beatitudes on virtue over status. The King, angered, threatens Bertram with ruin and his wrath. Bertram consents in word and the King will have them married without delay. Lafew mentions to Parolles' duty to Bertrand, and Bertram's recantation, which provoke a pique of haughty contempt from Parolles in which he disdains and threatens the old Lord. Lafew returns the animosity, and leaves and returns to announce Bertram married, and to further insult Parolles on his way through.
Bertram bemoans his fate to Parolles and plans his escape to the Tuscan wars, while sending Helena back home.
The Clown, having arrived, spars verbally with Parolles on the matter of his lack of title, duty and worth. Parolles delivers from Bertram his request that Helena take her leave of the King while Bertram attends “other business”.
Lafew tries in vain to convince Bertram of Parolles' empty viciousness. Bertram won't hear of it, and Lafew asks Bertram to mend relations between him and Parolles, likely sarcastically, since as soon as Parolles enters, Lafew subtly works toward a full indictment of Parolles as nothing but a shell of a man with a good suit on. Bertram tells Helena that he has urgent business to attend to as their surprise wedding has left him with unsettled matters, and that he will arrive at home in two days. She finds the courage to ask him for a farewell kiss, which he refuses.
In Florence, the local Duke and the French Lords discuss the King of France's abstention from the Tuscan war, and the Duke welcomes the participation of the many French lords who have come to seek honor and glory.
In Rousillon, the Clown informs the Countess of the marriage of Bertram and Helena, as well as Bertram's melancholy, adding that Clown has lost interest in the woman he wanted to marry after seeing the Parisian court's version of her. The Countess reads Bertram's letter, disapproving of his flight to Florence, and the Clown rattles off equivoques on cowardice in war and marriage.
Helena and the Lords returned from Florence enter to elaborate on Bertram's flight. Helena, dejected, reads Bertram's sardonic letter claiming that she'll have him as a husband once she gets his family ring and has his child. The Countess disavows him and claims Helena as her own daughter, giving the Lords this message of disapproval to take to Bertram. Helena, alone and hoping to give Bertram cause to return from the dangers of war, plans to disappear from Rousillon in the night.
In Florence, the Duke makes Bertram his cavalry officer.
In Rousillon, the Countess reads Helena's farewell letter, declaring her pilgrimage to Saint Jaques (putatively in Spain, or at least not in Florence or Rousillon). The Countess sends word of this to Bertram, hoping he'll return from Florence now that Helena is away.
In Florence, a Widow, her daughter Diana, Mariana and other women speak of the soldiers and watch or wait for them from afar. They discuss Bertram's success in war and his and Parolles' seduction of the local virgins. Helena arrives disguised as a pilgrim, who are hosted in Florence at the widow's house. She hears of Bertram's martial fame, his history, and his most recent attempts to seduce Diana, with more equivoques between war and the seduction of virgins. Helena befriends the women.
The Lords warn Bertram of Parolles' dishonorable behavior, staking their reputations with Bertram on its veracity. Bertram, now more receptive to the possibility, agrees with the Lords' scheme to send Parolles off to recover his drum, lost in the day's battle, so that on his return, they can capture him disguised as the enemy. Parolles enters to take the bait, and affecting pride, swears to recover it. Bertram takes a Lord to show him Diana.
Helena has identified herself to the Widow, a fallen estate noble, and enlisted her help for coin in order to get Bertram's family ring and switch Diana for Helena in a bed trick.
A French Lord and his soldiers lie in wait for Parolles, who bides his time and wonders how long of a story and how many self-inflicted injuries will satisfy the others when he doesn't return with a drum. The disguised French ambush him, and he immediately panics and offers information on the Florentine cause.
At the Widow's house, Bertram attempts to woo Diana who questions his motives and sincerity. Once Bertram attests that he is eternally sincere, and guileless, Diana plies him for the ring, offering to trade it for a ring (from Helena) and her virginity. Bertram accepts.
The Lords discuss Bertram's letter from his mother expressing her disapproval, how it negatively affects him, his caddish behavior, and the recently received rumor of Helena's death at Saint Jacques. Bertram enters, having arranged his affairs for departure no sooner than having heard of Helena's death. The Lords, hoping he see the error of his ways through Parolles' unmasking, take him to the blindfolded Parolles, who readily offers martial information on Florence to save himself with hardly a provocation, as before. He is equally forthwith in besmirching Bertram's character to the "enemy" on discovery of a note to Diana, advising her to leech money from Bertram as he tries to seduce her since he will betray her afterward (ostensibly written to her in an undelivered compact to bilk Bertram of gold). They reveal themselves and shame Parolles into near-silence. Alone and humbled, he concludes to follow them back to France.
Helena, the Widow and Diana discuss their success (the seduction having happened offstage) and Helena muses on the love-hate of Bertram, (or tricked-seducers of his kind, or men in general) during the sexual act. She asks the Widow and Diana to accompany her to the King in order to complete her winning or cornering of Bertram.
In Rousillon, the Countess, Lafew and the Clown mourn the loss of Helena. Lafew has proposed to the King that Bertram marry his daughter, which meets with the Countess' approval.
In Marseilles, Helena, the Widow and Diana send a Gentleman ahead of them to Roussillon with a letter to the King concerning Bertram.
In Rousillon, Parolles, now a reeking beggar, begs for help from Lafew, who allows him in for supper.
The King, Lafew and the Countess mourn the loss of Helena and decide to forgive Bertram's foolish young pride. Lafew and Bertram have arranged his marriage to Lafew's daughter, and the King consents. Bertram enters, asking forgiveness, and expanding on his love for Lafew's daughter, whom he loved at first sight. This love provoked his disdain for Helena, whom he belatedly appreciates.

Lafew, whose estate will pass to Bertram in the marriage, asks for a ring from Bertram to give to his daughter. Bertram gives him the ring from Diana (which came from Helena). The King, Lafew and the Countess recognize it as the ring that the King gave to Helena, which Bertram denies. The King has him seized, suspecting foul play (the King knows that she would only surrender it to Bertram in their bed, and Bertram believes that this is an impossibility). The Gentleman arrives, giving the letter from Diana and Helena to the King, in which it is claimed that Bertram pledged to marry Diana as soon as Helena has died. Lafew rescinds his daughter's hand.

Diana and the Widow enter and Bertram agrees he knows them, but not that he seduced her or promised her marriage, claiming she is a Florentine harlot. Diana shows Bertram's family ring, and claims Parolles as witness to Bertram's efforts to woo her. Bertram changes his story, claiming to have foolishly given her the ring as over-payment for her harlotry. Diana further claims Helena's ring, as recognized by the court, as the one she gave Bertram in bed. With the confusion reaching a peak, Parolles, once pressed, admits that Bertram seduced and bedded her, and Diana equivocates over how she got Helena's ring. The King order her arrest as well, and she then summons the Widow and Helena.
After the court's shock, Helena explains the rings, and that she has fulfilled the conditions of Bertram's sardonic challenge. Bertram swears to love her if she has honestly done all of this and can explain it. Helena pledges honesty, or righteous divorce for Bertram. Lafew accepts Parolles as a servant. The King offers Diana a dowry and her choice of husband.
The play ends as the actor playing the King steps forward in epilogue, declaring that all is well if Helena and Bertram speak truthfully, and asks for the audience's approval. 
 























Theatre: Troilus and Cressida at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (August 2017)


Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus and Cressida. The work has in recent years "stimulated exceptionally lively critical debate".
Throughout the play, the tone lurches wildly between bawdy comedy and tragic gloom, and readers and theatre-goers have frequently found it difficult to understand how one is meant to respond to the characters. Several characteristic elements of the play (the most notable being its constant questioning of intrinsic values such as hierarchy, honor, and love) have often been viewed as distinctly "modern",

Synopsis

Troilus and Cressida is set during the later years of the Trojan War, faithfully following the plotline of the Iliad from Achilles' refusal to participate in battle, to Hector's death. Essentially, two plots are followed in the play. In one, Troilus, a Trojan prince (son of Priam), woos Cressida, another Trojan. They profess their undying love, before Cressida is exchanged for a Trojan prisoner of war. As he attempts to visit her in the Greek camp, Troilus glimpses Diomedes flirting with his beloved Cressida, and decides to avenge her perfidy. 

While this plot gives the play its name, it accounts for only a small part of the play's run time. The majority of the play revolves around the leaders of the Greek and Trojan forces, Agamemnon and Priam, respectively. Agamemnon and his cohorts attempt to get the proud Achilles to return to battle and face Hector, who sends the Greeks a letter telling them of his willingness to engage in one-on-one combat with a Greek soldier. Ajax is originally chosen as this combatant, but makes peace with Hector before they are able to fight. Achilles is prompted to return to battle only after his protege Patroclus is killed by Hector before the Trojan walls. A series of skirmishes conclude the play, during which Achilles catches Hector and has the Myrmidons kill him. The conquest of Troy is left unfinished, as the Trojans learn of the death of their hero. 

Act 1 

Scene 1
The play opens with a Prologue, an actor dressed as a soldier, who gives us the background to the plot, which takes place during the Trojan War. Immortalized in Greek mythology and Homer's Iliad, the war occurs because a Trojan prince, Paris, has stolen the beautiful Helen from her husband, King Menelaus of Sparta, and carries her home to Troy with him. In response, Menelaus gathers his fellow Greek kings, and they sail to Troy hoping to capture the city and reclaim Helen. 

Within the walls of Troy, Prince Troilus complains to Pandarus that he is unable to fight because of heartache; he is desperately in love with Pandarus's niece, Cressida. Pandarus complains that he has been doing his best to further Troilus's pursuit of his niece, and that he has received small thanks for his labors. After he departs, Troilus remarks that Pandarus has been growing irritable lately. As he ponders, the Trojan commander Aeneas comes in, bringing news about that Paris has been wounded in combat with Menelaus. As the noise of battle comes in offstage, Troilus agrees to join his Trojan comrades on the field. 

Scene 2
In another part of the city, Cressida converses with her servant, who recounts how a Greek warrior named Ajax, a valiant but stupid man, managed to overcome the great Trojan prince Hector the previous day, and that Hector is fighting furiously because of this defeat. Cressida is joined by Pandarus, and they discuss the Trojan princes, with Pandarus taking the unlikely position that Troilus is a greater man than Hector. As they converse, several Trojan lords pass by them returning from battle, including Antenor, Aeneas, Hector, and Paris; Pandarus praises each one, but tells his niece that none of them can match Troilus. He then leaves Cressida, promising to bring a token from Troilus. Alone, Cressida says that while she returns Troilus's feelings, she is holding him off; she is enjoying his pursuit of her. 

Scene 3
In the Greek camp, the great general and king Agamemnon is conversing with his lieutenants and fellow kings. He asks why they seem so glum and downcast for although their seven-year siege of Troy has met little success so far, they should welcome the adversity that the long war represents, since only in difficult times can greatness emerge. Nestor, the oldest of the Greek commanders, citing examples of how heroism emerges from hardship. In response, Ulysses expresses his deep respect for what they have said, but points out that the Greek army is facing a crisis not because of the duration of the war, but because of a breakdown in authority within the Greek camp. Instead of being united, they are divided into factions, Achilles, who refuses to fight and instead sits in his tent while his protege Patroclus makes fun of the Greek commanders. Others, like Ajax and his foul-mouthed slave, Thersites, follow this example, and so the entire army is corrupted. The others agree that this is a great problem, and as they discuss what is to be done, Aeneas appears under a flag of truce, bringing a challenge from Hector. The Trojan prince offers to fight any Greek lord in single combat, with the honor of their respective wives as the issue. The Greeks agree to find a champion and offer Aeneas hospitality. As Aeneas is led away, Ulysses tells Nestor that this challenge is truly directed at Achilles, since only Achilles could match the great Hector in battle. But to have Achilles fight Hector would be dangerous, because if Achilles lost, it would dishearten the entire army. Therefore, Ulysses suggests, they should have Ajax fight Hector instead; even if Ajax loses, they can still claim that Achilles would have won in his place. At the same time, by choosing Ajax as their champion, they will infuriate Achilles and perhaps goad him into rejoining the war, bringing with him all his soldiers. Nestor, impressed with Ulysses's intelligence, agrees to the plan. 

Act 2
Scene 1
In the Greek camp, Ajax summons his slave, Thersites, and orders him to find out the nature of the proclamation that has just been posted. Thersites, a foul-mouthed ruffian, refuses to obey and instead curses his master and the Greeks with equal vigor, provoking Ajax to beat him. Achilles and Patroclus come upon them and he includes them in his curses. Offended at Patroclus' request he stop, he replies "I will hold my peace when Achilles' brooch bids me, shall I?", the term "in the 16th century meant, among other things, a 'pointed rod, spit or pricker,'", implying that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers and further demeaning Achilles' masculinity. They send him away, and Achilles tells Ajax the news of Hector's challenge to any brave Greek warrior. The selection of the warrior has been put to a lottery otherwise, Achilles says as he leaves, he would have been the only possible choice, a remark that produces a sneer from Ajax. 

Scene 2
In Troy, King Priam and his sons debate the wisdom of continuing the war, when they can end it by returning Helen to the Greeks. Hector, supported by his brother Helenus, argues eloquently that while the theft of Helen may have been a brave act, she cannot be worth the great and bloody price they are paying to keep her. When he is done speaking, his sister Cassandra, a prophetess who is considered mad, dashes in and cries that if they do not let Helen go, Troy will burn. When she is gone, Troilus dismisses her warning as ravings, and argues that they must keep Helen for the sake of their honor and Paris supports him. Hector retorts that this is why young men cannot be trusted to make moral decisions. since passion overwhelms their reason, but Troilus says that Helen is more than a woman, she is a theme of honor and renown, Hector yields and agrees to continue the war. He goes on to report the challenge that has been sent out to the Greeks, and how he hopes it will bring Achilles to the field. 

Scene 3
Alone, Thersites sneers at the pretensions of both Ajax and Achilles. When Patroclus and Achilles appear, he calls them fools; Patroclus moves to strike him, but Achilles holds him off. They see the Greek commanders Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, and Diomedes approaching, accompanied by Ajax, and Achilles quickly retires to his tent. When Agamemnon asks to see him, Patroclus tells the general that Achilles is ill. Agamemnon grows angry, but Achilles refuses to emerge, and tells Ulysses, who goes in to see him, that he still refuses to fight the Trojans. Agamemnon suggests that Ajax go in and plead with Achilles, but Ulysses declares that doing so would be insulting to Ajax, and then he, with the other Greek commanders, praises Ajax profusely, saying that he is the best of their warriors. They agree to leave Achilles in his tent, and decide that Ajax will be their champion against Hector the next day. 

Act 3
Scene 1
In Troy, Pandarus converses with a servant while he waits to speak with Paris and Helen. When they come in, he compliments Helen profusely, and asks her to excuse Troilus if Priam asks about him at dinner that night. Paris and Helen ask where Troilus will be dining, and Pandarus refuses to tell him but they both guess that he will be in pursuit of Cressida, and they make bawdy jokes about it as they depart to greet the returning warriors. 

Scene 2
Pandarus finds Troilus pacing about impatiently in an orchard, and assures him that his desire for Cressida will soon be satisfied. He goes out, leaving Troilus giddy with expectation, and brings in Cressida; after urging them to embrace, Pandarus departs. Left alone, they profess their love for one another, and each pledges to be faithful to the other. he reassures her and again pledges to be faithful, declaring that thereafter history will say of all lovers that they were as true as Troilus. Cressida declares that if she ever strays from him, she hopes that people will say of false lovers that they were as false as Cressidas. 

Scene 3
Meanwhile, in the Greek encampment, Cressida's father, Calchas, who has betrayed Troy in order to join the Greeks, asks the Greek general to grant him a favor. He asks that they exchange the Trojan commander Antenor, for his daughter, so that he might be reunited with her. Agamemnon agrees, and orders Diomedes to supervise the exchange. On Ulysses's advice, the Greek commanders then file past Achilles's tent, and scorn the proud warrior, ignoring his greetings and making him uneasy. He goes to Ulysses and asks him why he is being scorned, and Ulysses tells him that he is no longer a hero and he will be forgotten quickly. He tells, and suggests that Achilles could restore his fame and honor if he stopped dallying with enemy women and took the field. When Ulysses is gone, Patroclus tells Achilles to follow Ulysses's advice; seeing that his reputation is at stake, and Achilles agrees. Thersites comes in and reports that Ajax is now striding about the camp, completely puffed up with his own importance. Patroclus persuades the foul-tongued slave to talk Ajax into bringing Hector, safely conducted by Agamemnon, to Achilles' tent after their fight the next day, so that Achilles may speak with Hector. 

Act 4
Scene 1
Diomedes comes to Troy to make the exchange of Antenor for Cressida, and he is greeted heartily by Aeneas and Paris. Aeneas goes to fetch Cressida, remarking that this exchange will deal a heavy blow to Troilus; Paris concurs, but says regretfully that they have no choice: "the bitter disposition of the time will have it so. After Aeneas is gone, Diomedes is asked who he thinks deserves Helen more Paris or Menelaus? With great bitterness, the Greek replies that both deserve her, since both are fools, willing to pay a great price in blood for a whore. 

Scene 2-3
Meanwhile, as morning breaks, Troilus takes a regretful leave of Cressida while she pleads with him to stay a little longer. Pandarus comes in and makes several bawdy jokes about their recent lovemaking; suddenly, there is a knock at the door, and Cressida hides Troilus in her bedroom. Aeneas enters, and demands that Pandarus fetch Troilus. When the young prince emerges, Aeneas tells him the sad news that Cressida must be sent to her father in the Greek camp. Troilus is distraught, and goes with Aeneas to see his father, Priam, while Pandarus breaks the news to Cressida, who begins to weep.

Scene 4
Troilus brings Diomedes, together with the great lords of Troy, to Cressida's house, and begs leave to say goodbye to his lady. When they are alone, he pledges to be faithful, and Cressida promises that even in the Greek camp, she will remain true to him. Then Diomedes is brought in, and Troilus demands that he "use her well...for, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not, Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard, I'll cut thy throat (1.4.124-9). Diomedes retorts that he will make no promises he will treat Cressida as she deserves, but not because any Trojan prince orders him to. At that moment, a trumpet sounds, calling them all to the Greek camp for the duel between Hector and Ajax.

Scene 5
In the Greek camp, the newly arrived Cressida is greeted by all the Greek commanders. Ulysses insists that she be kissed by everyone, only then refusing to kiss her himself and when she is gone, he declares that she is a loose, unvirtuous woman. Then the Trojan lords arrive, and the conditions of the duel are set by Aeneas, who remarks that since Ajax and Hector are related, Hector's whole heart will not be in this fight. As the two combatants prepare, Agamemnon asks Ulysses “what Trojan is that same that looks so heavy“. Ulysses tells his general that the downcast Trojan is Troilus, and then goes on to praise him profusely, saying that Troilus may even be a greater man than Hector. 

Act 5
Scene 1
Achilles boasts to Patroclus how he will kill Hector. The two encounter Thersites, who delivers a letter to Achilles, and then unloads his usual torrent of abuse on them, calling Patroclus Achilles' male varlot, his 'masculine whore', and on the entire campaign. The letter is from the Trojan princess, Polyxena, whom Achilles loves, and it begs him not to fight the next day; he tells Patroclus sadly that he must obey her wishes. They go out, and Thersites remains; he watches from the shadows as the feast breaks up. Most of the lords go to bed, but Diomedes slips off to see Cressida, and Ulysses and Troilus follow him. Noting that Diomedes is an untrustworthy, lustful rogue, Thersites follows him as well. 

Scene 2
At Calchas's tent, Diomedes calls to Cressida. Her father fetches her, while Troilus and Ulysses watch from one hiding place and Thersites from another. With Thersites's profanity and Troilus's shock providing a counterpoint, Diomedes woos Cressida, who behaves reluctantly but coyly toward his advances, fending him off for a time but never allowing him to leave. Eventually, she gives him a sleeve that Troilus presented to her as a love-token then she takes it back, and says that she never wants to see Diomedes again then she softens, gives it to him once more, and promises to wait for him later, when he will come to sleep with her. When she is gone, and Diomedes too, Troilus is in agony, first denying the evidence seen with his own eyes, and then pledging to find Diomedes on the field of battle and kill him. Finally, as morning nears, Aeneas arrives to lead him back to Troy. 

Scene 3
Hector girds for battle, while the women, i.e. his wife, Andromache and his sister, Cassandra plead with him not to go. Both have had dreams that prophesize his death, but he dismisses their warnings. Troilus comes in and says that he will be fighting too; indeed, he chides Hector for having been too merciful to his enemies in the past, saying that today Troilus plans to slay as many men as he can. Cassandra leads Priam in, and the old king pleads with his son not to fight, saying that he too feels foreboding about this day, but Hector refuses to listen and goes out to the battlefield. Pandarus brings Troilus a letter from Cressida; Troilus tears it up and follows Hector out to the field. 

Scene 4
As the battle rages, Thersites wanders the field, escaping death by brazen cowardice. 

Scene 5
Another part of the plains, Agamemnon summarises the ways the Greeks are doing badly in the battle, including that Doreus is taken prisoner and Patroclus probably slain. Then Nestor enters and says that “There is a thousand Hectors in the field”. The scene ends with Achilles asking where Hector is. 

Scene 6
Troilus calls Diomed as traitor for capturing his horse. Diomed, Ajax and Troilus Exit, fighting.
Hector enters and Achilles calls him proud Trojan. Then Hector sees a Greek in ornate armour and pursues him. 

Scene 7
In another part of the plains. Menelaus and Paris enter the scene fighting. Thersites is confronted by a bastard son of Priam, but declares that as he is himself a bastard they have no business fighting each other. 

Scene 8
Achilles and his men find Hector, who has finished fighting and taken off his armour in order to try on the golden armour of the warrior he has conquered. Surrounding the unarmed Trojan, they stab him to death. 

Scene 9
Agamenon, Ajax, Menelaus, Nestor, Diomedes and others enter marching. Word arrives of the death of Hector. 

Scene 10
Left alone on the stage, the unhappy Pandarus wonders why he should be so abused, when his services were so eagerly desired only a little while before.