The Complete Troilus and Cressida: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play

Troilus and Cressida retells the epic story of the Iliad, but with an altered focus. The tale of these lovers (and Pandarus) was told earlier by both Homer and Geoffrey Chaucer. In Shakespeare, however, the epic proportions are reduced to the quotidian details of human passion, including quarrels and misunderstandings, which reduce the protagonists to a pitying level, including “calculation and manipulation” (Mowat, xv). The result has been called satire; unfortunately, it is satire without bite or humor.