Troilus and Cressida Gender Quotes

This isn't the first time we hear Troilus say that falling in love has made him a girly wimp. Here, he says that he's "womanish" for not being out on the battlefield. A few lines earlier, he confesses that he doesn't want to fight in the war because he's so in love with Cressida and declares "I am weaker than a woman's tear" (1.1.9). The idea that participating in warfare makes one a "man" and that falling in love makes one effeminate is something that shows up all over this play.

There's a lot of pressure on men to engage in battle in this play. Even the "great Achilles" is accused of being effeminate when he refuses to leave his tent and fight in the Trojan War. Here, Ulysses claims that Achilles has become "dainty" because he hasn't seen combat lately and spends all his time hooking up with his lover.

When Hector issues a thrown down challenge to face a Greek soldier in man-to-man combat, he says the winner gets to go around bragging that his wife or girlfriend is hotter, smarter, and more faithful than any other girl around. Weird, right? What does male combat have to do with women? Could it be that they're just looking for an excuse to engage in a little naked wrestling with each other?

The Trojan princes spend a whole lot of time arguing about whether or not Helen has any "value" to them and whether or not she's "worth" all the lives that have been sacrificed to the war. In fact, Helen is portrayed as a commodity throughout the play, as is Cressida, who is actually traded to the Greeks as if she's nothing more than a piece of merchandise that can be bought, sold, or traded.

After a lengthy argument about whether or not Helen is "worth" fighting the Trojan War for, Troilus announces that, Helen is just a "theme of honor and renown." In other words, Helen is merely an excuse for the men to fight so they can perform "valiant and magnanimous deeds" and earn serious props on the battlefield. Basically, Helen is beside the point.

We hear some version of this offensive argument over and over again throughout the play. According to Thersites, the Trojan War is being fought over nothing more than a "whore." It's not a noble war, like, say, a land grab or a colonizing attempt.

This is where Patroclus complains that everyone blames him for Achilles refusing to come out of his tent and fight. And hello, gender roles! Men are expected to participate in combat; women are expected to be obedient to their men. When people step outside the gender roles that have prescribed for them, they become "loathed," social outcasts.

After Cressida is traded to the Greek army, she's treated like a piece of meat. Here, the Greek commanders line up to greet her as she arrives at camp—they each kiss her, paw at her, and Ulysses even insults her. This is a far cry from what happens when Aeneas visits the camp. When he shows up with a message for the Trojan army, he's treated with respect and is given a hero's welcome in Act 1, scene 3.

Here, Cressida blames her bad behavior on the fact that she's a woman. In Shakespeare's day, a lot of men thought that women were born with a character flaw or moral weakness that made them incapable of being faithful. What's interesting about this particular passage is that the woman apparently believes she was born flawed. We like to call this "double consciousness."

Women just can't win. If they're not slutty like Helen and Cressida, they're superstitious and annoying like Andromache and Cassandra. Remember how Cassandra's prophetic warnings about Troy's imminent downfall are dismissed as the ramblings of a "brain sick" lunatic (2.2.99-101)? Here, Hector blows off Andromache's warnings about his impending death by ordering her to go in the house and be quiet. And make him a sammich while she's at it, all right?