Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: Activities for Students

TROY
Activities for Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida

1. Read The Trojan War, Chapter 11: "Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: Human Beings Alone," (165-177).

2. Explore the links on the Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida page.

3. Read through all of the Activities on this list before making your selection. Notice that some of the Activities are quite easy and may only require reading one text, while others are far more difficult, and may require reading more than one text or doing online research plus reading texts.

Select Activities that interest you and are appropriate to the time you have to spend on them. You will not get a higher grade because you select more difficult Activities. Some Activities that are especially complex will offer double credit; if so, that will be stated in the Activity question. If you select the double credit option, you must write "double credit" on your Activity AND you must develop your Activity in more depth, in order to qualify for the double credit.

Select one or two of these Activities; make a copy of the Activity question to begin your response. Post your Activity to the Blackboard Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida Forum.

Compare Chaucer's Criseyde to Shakespeare's Cressida. How are they similar? How are they different? Why do you think Shakespeare has treated her so harshly, while Chaucer treated her so gently? Support your ideas with specific examples from both texts. (Double credit: worth up to 100 points.)

Chaucer's Narrator is very fond of the God of Love, which he understands as a necessary, generative force under God. Even his Pandarus is treated with surprising gentleness, considering his role in the story. However, Shakespeare's Ulysses lumps love into the same category with other destructive appetites and indeed, calls appetite "an universal wolf" (I iii 121), while his Pandarus, an expert on lust, remarks: "is this the generation of love? Hot blood, hot thoughts, and hot deeds? Why they are vipers. Is love a generation of vipers?" (III ii 127-129). Compare the very different attitudes toward love in Chaucer's and Shakespeare's retellings of the story of Troilus and Criseyde/Cressida. (Double credit: worth up to 100 points.)

Compare the Hymn to Love at the opening of Book III of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde to Ulysses' speech on degree in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (I iii 75-137). Consider the stability of Chaucer's fictional world and the chaos of Shakespeare's fictional world. In this activity, I want you to focus on the two different world views, not just the role of love in those worlds. Do you have any ideas about why Chaucer tells a story about a world that ultimately can be understood, while Shakespeare tells a story about a world that does not makes sense? In order to do this Activity, you will probably want to look at some of the material about the Renaissance on the Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida page. (Double credit: worth up to 100 points.)

Read Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid (in Middle English, but with plenty of help alongside the text) and compare the role of Cresseid to that of Shakespeare's Cressida. What interesting similarities and differences do you find? Why do you think Cresseid has degenerated from a charming, if unstable, medieval woman into this debased creature? Support your ideas with examples from both texts. (Double credit: worth up to 100 points.) Note: the link goes to a Middle English version. There are modern translations available;

Chaucer had a "solution" to the problem of the fickle, unstable nature of the world--heaven for Christians and at least a sky-life after death for Troilus. Does Shakespeare present any "solution" to the problems of the chaotic world of the Trojan War? If so, what is that solution? If not, why do you think there is no solution? In either case, explain why you think they tell such different versions of the same story. Develop your ideas with specific examples from the texts. (Double credit: worth up to 100 points.)

Is Shakespeare's Ulysses a "good guy" or a "bad guy?" Discuss his role in the play and explain in specific, developed detail why you think he is one or the other, or both. Be sure to cite plenty of supporting examples from the text.

Troy stories have always dealt with the connections between love and war. Indeed, this may be the key to their very long run as story material. How does Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida fit into this ancient tradition? Do you see any strong continuities? Any striking differences? And, so what? Support your ideas with specific examples from Shakespeare's play and from the long tradition of Troy stories.

Explore some of the Renaissance sites on the Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida page. Then review Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida for any qualities which seem to you specifically of the Renaissance. What, exactly, do you think these Renaissance qualities are and how do you think they affect Shakespeare's treatment of the story? Be specific in your response, using examples from the Renaissance sites and from Shakespeare's play to support your ideas.

Describe and discuss the role of Thersites in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. Why do you think Shakespeare added him to Chaucer's cast of characters? How does he help the audience to understand the point of the play? Use specific examples of his behavior and function to support your ideas.

Compare Shakespeare's Troilus to Chaucer's Troilus. What significant changes do you see? What sort of continuities can you find? Support your ideas using specific examples from both versions.

Read my essay, The Greek Gods Become Human: Raoul Lefevre’s The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. See if you can connect the ideas in this essay (making the Greek gods into human beings makes their ancient actions weird and meaningless) with the flurry of action without meaning or values in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. If you can do a very thorough job with this complex issue, citing examples from both the essay and the play, this Activity can be worth double credit. Let me know if you are doing it for double credit when you post it.

BTW, the sections quoting from the Recuyell look very strange, but if you pronounce the words out loud, you can figure out what most of it means. Caxton really could have used a spell checker!

Make up an interesting question of your own and answer it.