Ulysses's Balancing Act

Troilus and Cressida was Shakespeare's version of Helen and Paris, in the sense that there was a triangle of two men and a woman, and who had the rights to that woman. Helen was Menelaus's wife, who ran off with Paris; while Cressida was Troilus's woman, who was traded for a prisoner and found flirting with another man.

The war begins with Helen running off with Paris, though Menelaus believes that she has been stolen. In an effort to retrieve the king's wife, Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother, took the Greek army to Troy. As the King of Troy's, Priam, best warrior, Achilles was sent out to fight Hector, the Greek's greatest warrior and the killer of Achilles's friend Patroclus, then drug his body around the grounds of Troy when Hector was dead. Odysseus was an ally to Menelaus, after he helped secured Menelaus's marriage to Helen. Eventually, the Greeks burned Troy to the ground, taking the spoils of the city back to Sparta with them.

Troilus and Cressida picks up at the death of Hector and carries on from that point on in the Trojan War. Much like how the war started, the play mimics the fickleness of love. Shakespeare demonstrates the lengths to which man will go for "love," albeit lust in most cases.

"The central theme, the young love and faith of Troilus given to one who was false and fickle, and his discovery of his error, lends its color to the whole play. It is a comedy of disillusion" (Dowden Introduction 690). It is this disillusionment which makes Ulysses's speech so intriguing. While his words seem distant to the rest of the play, it is an attempt on Ulysses's part to change the perception of the Agamemnon and Nestor to wage the war as he wants. Ulysses speaks with great philosophical and rational words, unlike Agamemnon and Nestor who simply curse the gods for their failures.

During the Renaissance, there was a resurgence of universal order within society. "The idea of this chain had been passed down from antiquity and through the Middle Ages; by the Elizabethan Age, it was part of a shared belief system by most western civilizations. Not only were types of beings ordered in the Great Chain, but these types were also subdivided. For instance, angels were ranked among each other, as were people (kings at the top, of course) animals, plants and rocks. Everyone in western Medieval society knew where they ranked in relation to everyone and everything around them" (Edwards). Ulysses was attempting to capitalize on this modern concept while dissuading Agamemnon that it was not the gods' fault, but that the universal order had been taken out of balance. The general's have disrespected one of the Greek's greatest warriors, and therefore disrupted the great chain. Ulysses wants to restore the chain of command as it would be; yet, Agamemnon and Nestor are laying blame at Hector's feet.

Sick with power and lust, Agamemnon and Nestor cannot see that order needs to be restored, while Ulysses can, which brings about his very unusual, philosophical speech. Shakespeare writes in his play: "And this neglection of degree it is/That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose/It hath climb. the general's disdaine'd/ By him one step below, he by the next,/The next by him beneath: so every step,/Exampled by the first pace that is sick/Of his superior, grow to an envious fever/of pale and bloodless emulation" (lines 127-135). Ulysses's successfully uses Hector's pouting as a means of getting what he truly wants: the death of Achilles; and he uses this opportunity to re-establish the great chain of command to accomplish his task.

WORKS CITED

Dowden, Edward. "Introduction to Troilus and Cressida" The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Eds. W.G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright. Volume 2. Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday Inc., 1970.

Edwards, Eugenia. "Universal Harmony and the Great Chain of Being." HUM514, Spring 2008 Week Two Course Module, Tiffin University.

Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Eds. W.G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright. Volume 2. Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday Inc., 1970.