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Troilus and Cressida (New Penguin Shakespeare) (Paperback)

by William Shakespeare (Author), R.A. Foakes (Editor) "Eternal reader, you have here a new play, never staled with the stage, never clapperclawed with the palms of the vulgar, and yet passing full..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (29 Jan 1987)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140707417
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140707410
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.9 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 210,567 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #2 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Shakespeare, William > The Plays > A-Z > Troilus & Cressida
    #12 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Shakespeare, William > The Plays > Problem Plays

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

One of Shakespeare's most notoriously difficult and cynical plays, labelled a "Problem Comedy", Troilus and Cressida has perplexed critics and theatre directors, and after Shakespeare's lifetime it was not performed again until 1907. In many ways the play's difficulty is a surprise; the story of Troilus and Cressida was a popular theme, drawn from Homer's Iliad and Chaucer's own Troilus and Criseyde, as was its classical setting, the Greek siege of Troy, led by Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes and Ulysses.

Within the walls of Troy, Prince Troilus falls madly in love with Cressida, daughter of the deserter Calchas. His love is intense and frenetic--"I am giddy, expectation whirls round me," but turns to bitter disillusion when Cressida defects to the Greek camp and flirts with Diomedes. As the war and conflict over the abduction of Helen whirls around the doomed romance, the play delights in its complex syntax and cynical images of waste, decay, corruption and mutability, summed up in Ulysses' comment that, "Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all / To envious and calumniating time." The play's cynical open-ended quality has frustrated many readers, but gives the play a remarkably modern, contemporary sensibility. --Jerry Brotton



Product Description

Offers a complete edition of the play. Each volume in the series has been prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a full and commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play.
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First Sentence
Eternal reader, you have here a new play, never staled with the stage, never clapperclawed with the palms of the vulgar, and yet passing full of the palm comical; for it is a birth of your brain that never undertook anything comical vainly. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A light read it is not. Great literature?...Oh yes!, 20 Oct 2000
By a.mcg@mcmail.com (London, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: "Troilus and Cressida" (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Paperback)
Troilus and Cressida, is not well-known as one of Shakespeare's great plays; it has for the most part largely been ignored by the literary world, due to its length, its philosophical under belly and complex story line. I would not recommend it, if you're searching for a light 'bed-time' read, full of typical Shakespearean humour and lovable rogues. Troilus is the work of a mature and experimenting Shakespeare, and thus it has, for the most part been neglected by critics, yet, because it is so unique it should not be ignored. It is an extremely satisfying read, giving a brilliant insight into the darker side of Shakespeare's fascinating mind.

Troilus and Cressida is undoubtedly one of Shakespeare's most ambiguous, puzzling, and therefore most disconcerting plays. The complex and unsettling nature of the play is deliberate, and throughout, Shakespeare presents to us one universal society that we would rather not see. The subversion of the Trojan War which acts as a canvas of the play, is one such ploy to provoke us into thinking about the corruption and hypocrisy of Shakespeare's 16th century society. The great Greek storyteller Homer, first told the tale of the Trojan War in the Iliad and the Odyssey, depicting the warriors, both Greek and Trojans; Aeneas, Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Menelaus, Diomedes and Ulysses - as great heroes worthy of imitation. Shakespeare appears to depict them as quite human, vulgar, pompous and stupid. Shakespeare does not re-tell the story of this epic war and legendary struggle; his play apparently seems to conjure up a bitter and deflating account of the war. Troilus and Crssisda presents us a society driven by the want of immediate consumption and disloyalty both in terms of love and allegiance. However, it is up to us to decide whether any one character is able to rise above the foolish greed that surrounds them.

This Arden edition provides its' readers with a detailed yet very readable collection of notes, conveniently running along side the play. It also provides an extremely well written, yet not overwhelmingly profound group of introductory essays (perfect for the easygoing student). Troilus and Cressida may not officially be regarded as a 'great work' of Shakespeare, but it is thoroughly engaging despite its intricate plot, in my humble view it is most certainly - 'great' - and I would definitely recommend it to all. ENJOY!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoroughly Recommendable Edition of a Dramatic Shakespeare's Play, 27 Mar 2009
By chatvarin (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: "Troilus and Cressida" (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Hardcover)
This is the second Shakespeare's play to have kept me wanting to find out what actually happens. Arguably this may have resulted from my having read Chaucer's "Troilus", which story cannot be outdone in its emotionless pursuit of intellectual ends, but this "Troilus" of itself is still truly laudable as an instance of Shakespeare's drama having some dramatic quality besides great verse speeches to admire. Since Shakespeare is overstudied I am not taking the trouble to review the play itself. Briefly, for the interested general reader, the play as published in the quarto and the Folio purports to be a love story in time of war. What it actually is is rather a war story over the course of a love affair. Troilus and Cressida are not another Romeo and Juliet; it is love as a concept itself that is at the bar here.

Uniquely, Arden Third Series has chosen the Folio text as a copytext for this edition. The editor's argument is thus. Although the play is one of those Shakespeare's plays that seem to have existed in more than one version, the differences between the quarto and the Folio versions of "Troilus" are practically only in word choices. As one's reading is very rarely obviously preferable to the other's, the Foilo text which might plausibly represent a later authorial revision than the earlier quarto text was chosen. Throughout the two texts have been rigorously checked against each other and various editions consulted. All the differences are discussed in the commentary, in which manner, argues the editor, the two versions can be better compared because they do not differ in the way that reading through them separately would be disparate experiences. In the great Arden tradition, significant variances between the early editions are footnoted, as well as the orginal printed text where there has been in the editor's view semantically impinging modernization and editorial emendation, even though in the case of "Troilus" this commitment renders the textual notes, in the editor's words, "burdensomely numerous".

The Arden edition continues to endeavour to place all the notes alongside the text. The luxuriant superplenitude of Shakespeare's overstudies however is compelling the third series to begin assigning "longer notes" to the back. I have always considered side-by-side notes and text as the Arden Shakespeare's greatest virtue and have found myself indeed fairly willing to forgo scholarly guidance when it requires turning to the back. Nevertheless this edition must still surely be as good as the best edition can be. The printing is again attractive, especially in this buckram hardback edition which is a pleasure to hold and evidently more able to withstand repeated handling - if only the demanded price is not quite so exorbitant! The ever-expanding introduction is devoted more or less exclusively to critical and historical readings of the play whilst Shakespeare's sources for this story and the two versions of the text are discussed at the end. Recommended for the cultured general readers and specialists alike.
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2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars previous review is for the arden edition, not this cambridge edition!, 23 Aug 2007
This review is from: Troilus and Cressida (New Cambridge Shakespeare) (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) (Paperback)
All these study companions provide is condensed knowledge and opinion, preventing the student for studying with an open mind. Try reading the play without notes to get your own opinion before reading the 'experts' opinions. There is a wordsworth edition of this play with no notes available muuch cheaper than these study companions!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare: help on this less common play
I went to see Troilus and Cressida at the Globe and I have listened to it on the radio. I enjoyed both performances and then read it in a collection of Shakespeare plays that had... Read more
Published 1 month ago by A. J. Adlington

3.0 out of 5 stars Gender relations, resolved unsatisfactorily
I find this one of the most interesting Shakespeare plays from the point of view of sex and gender, disappointingly weakened in the final scenes (though probably a skilled... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Nicholas Whyte

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