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Pandarus is a Trojan lord who took on the responsibility of looking after his niece, Cressida, following his brother’s defection to the Greeks. A congenial figure prone to suggestive joking, Pandarus serves as the go-between for Troilus and Cressida. He struggles with this role in the play’s opening scene, where, in response to Troilus’s complaints, he expresses frustration that the young prince doesn’t appreciate his matchmaking efforts. Even so, in the very next scene we see him attempting to convince Cressida of Troilus’s worthiness. Once Cressida relents and admits that she returns Troilus’s feelings, it’s up to Pandarus to arrange their secret tryst. It is here that Pandarus first clearly associates himself with his namesake profession of the pander—which is to say, a pimp. In the more “comic” first half of the play, his role as a pander links him to virtuous characters like the nurse and Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet. However, as the play grows increasingly dark and “tragic” in its second half, Pandarus is rapidly reduced to a hateful figure. Troilus angrily dismisses him in the play’s final moments, leaving him onstage to deliver his epilogue addressed to the next generation of panders.
