Design and tropes in "Troilus and Cressida"

Vernon Porter Loggins, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the patterns, systems, strategies that enable us to understand Troilus and Cressida. It takes as its basic premise that a Shakespeare play must be read to be understood, and that it must be read more deeply each time it is considered. Among others, the primary strategies that are utilized by Troilus and Cressida are the trope, recapitulation, the epilogue-prologue, and the revised or re-written scene. The scene is Shakespeare's basic unit of organization; thus, the emphasis is on an examination of the design of scenes in Troilus and Cressida. Tropes are viewed as one of the major strategies used throughout the play for determining meaning. The major trope for understanding Troilus and Cressida is the story of the Apple of Discord. But this study also determines that a series of tropes is utilized; this includes the Elizabethan fair, the brothel, the church, the bee with its honey and wax, the outside-inside trope, the Trojan horse. Troilus and Cressida are viewed as the human trope that clarifies the human implications of the Trojan war. Recapitulation is seen as a major means of rendering the complex material from the viewpoints of several major characters. Not only do the first five scenes provide the problem of the play from shifting viewpoints but also do III.i, the play in Pandarus's terms, III.iii, the play in Achilles's terms, IV.v, the play in Ulysses's terms, V.iii, the play from the dual perspectives of Hector and Troilus, and V.iv, the play in Thersites's terms. Utilizing an elaborate procedure of prologues and epilogues throughout the play, Troilus and Cressida presents the material in a construct that renders its meaning by enabling us to recognize the importance of character equation. This is accomplished by what we may call the revised or re-written scene. Establishing the inwoven quality of Troilus and Cressida, this dissertation helps to make clear the artistic achievement of the play.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Bache, Purdue University.

Subject Area

British and Irish literature

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