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References to Cuckoldry
References to cuckoldry abound in Troilus and Cressida. The concept of a cuckold goes back to the medieval period, and it refers to a man whose wife has sex with another man. Popular iconography in the medieval and early modern periods depicted the cuckolded male with stag-like horns. It is precisely this horn imagery that comes up repeatedly in Shakespeare’s play, typically in relation to the Greek king Menelaus, who became cuckolded when Paris absconded with his wife, Helen. Ulysses references Menelaus’s situation when, in a moment of frustration, he complains that so many have died in a war that’s being fought to restore dignity to a cuckold: “O deadly gall and theme of all our scorns, / For which we lose our head to gild his horns!” (4.5.33–34). Troilus makes a similar reference in the play’s opening scene, where, upon learning that Menelaus has injured Paris in battle, he quips: “Paris is gored with Menelaus’ horn” (1.1.115). For those in the audience already anticipating Cressida’s infidelity, this observation, made so early, foreshadows the fact that Troilus will also wear the proverbial cuckold’s horns.
Prophecies, Omens, and Visions
Troilus and Cressida features several references to prophetic visions. The most notable example occurs when Priam’s daughter Cassandra interrupts the Trojan leaders’ discussion of whether to keep Helen in Troy. Though dismissed as mad, Cassandra is gifted—or, perhaps, cursed—with prophetic vision, and she has seen that Troy will fall if they don’t let Helen go. Hence her urgent warning: “Cry, Trojans, cry! Practice your eyes with tears. / Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilium stand” (2.2.114–15). In a later scene, she attempts to dissuade Hector from joining the battle, “For I have dreamt / Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night / Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter” (5.3.11–13). In this same scene, Priam notes that both he and his wife have also had ominous visions about the battle to come. Hector’s failure to heed the warning results in his death, which in turn foreshadows the prophesied fall of Troy. It’s also worth noting that Cressida’s father, Calchas, is a seer. Indeed, it was a vision of Troy’s fall that convinced him to defect to the Greek side—an act that placed Cressida in the precarious political position she occupies at the play’s beginning.
Anticlimax
The plot of Troilus and Cressida is characterized by a repeating pattern of anticipation and disappointment, giving the story an overriding sense of anticlimax. Shakespeare devotes a significant amount of stage time to the development of various plots that never find a satisfying resolution. For instance, consider the involved scheme to ensure that Ajax is chosen to represent the Greeks in the duel with Hector. Ulysses and Nestor go to great lengths to make Ajax’s selection seem like the result of a random lottery, all to enrage Achilles and motivate him to rejoin the battle. However, nothing about this plan pans out. When Ajax and Hector finally face off, they stop fighting almost as soon as they’ve started and embrace each other as kinsmen. And although the choice of Ajax does get under Achilles’s skin, the irritation isn’t enough to propel him to fight. The climactic battle in the play also turns out to be profoundly anticlimactic. Troilus fails in his attempt to avenge himself against Diomedes, and he loses his horse in the process. Meanwhile, Achilles’s defeat of the unarmed Hector is profoundly dishonorable, particularly since he overpowers the Trojan hero with his gang of mercenary Myrmidons. What should be a properly tragic conclusion is ultimately just pitifully sad.
