Troilus and Cressida Love Quotes

If this were an opera—oh look, it is—Troilus would totally be the tenor, the wimpy guy who can't stop talking about love. And he knows it. He associates love with effeminacy and warfare with masculinity. Here, he says the Greeks are "strong," "fierce," and "valiant" because they're willing to fight. He, on the other hand, feels like he's "weaker than a woman's tear" because he's too preoccupied with his desire for Cressida to fight in the Trojan War. In other words, Troilus thinks love turns men into wimps, which is something we hear from a lot of Shakespearean characters. (Go talk to Romeo or Hotspur if you don't believe us.)

Can you hear us rolling our eyes? At this point in the play, Troilus sounds like a typical "Petrarchan lover," moping around and around sighing dramatically about fact that his crush doesn't know he exists. This kind of guy also spends a lot of time talking about his lady's individual body parts (eyes, hair, cheeks, lips, breasts, and so on). Plus, he usually runs around declaring that his love is totally killing him. Sound like Troilus? We think so. This was sort of a cliché by Shakespeare's time, so Troilus is meant to sound a little dramatic and silly. One more thing, Shmoopers. We also want to point out how all this talk about the "open ulcer" of Troilus's heart anticipates the play's emphasis on diseases—especially sexually transmitted diseases. Go to "Symbols" for more on this.

We can't get through a single Shakespeare play without a reference to cuckoldry (when a wife cheats on her husband). Also penises. When Troilus finds out that Menelaus wounded Paris in battle, he says that Paris was probably "gor'd" with a "horn." As we know, horns are a common symbol for cuckolded husbands. In other words, Troilus thinks Paris deserves what he gets for stealing another guy's wife. We should also point out that the image of Paris getting "gored" with Menelaus' "horn" is often read as a reference to rape.

Why buy the cow if the milk is free, right? Well, Shakespeare may have gussied that sentiment up, but he's basically saying the same thing here. Cressida tells us that she's been playing hard to get with Troilus because she's afraid he won't value her as much once he sleeps with her. So—deceptive whore, or smart and savvy lady who's playing by the rules her society dictated to her? You decide.

References to syphilis really undermine the idea of love, twue love. Here, Thersites says he hopes that the whole army gets the "Neapolitan bone-ache" (a.k.a. syphilis) because they've agreed to fight over a "placket" (a crude term for a woman). At the same time, Thersites also manages to remind us that he thinks Paris's relationship with Helen is based purely on sexual desire, not love.

As Troilus waits for Pandarus to bring him and Cressida together, he tells us he's so excited about finally hooking up with Cressida that he's salivating just thinking about what it's going to be like to finally "taste" her sweet "nectar." This isn't the first time Troilus's desire is linked to food. Earlier in the play, Pandarus compared his pursuit of Cressida to baking a "cake" (1.1.15). In other words, Troilus' love may be nothing more than sexual appetite. Check out "Symbols" for more on this.

Hey, cool it Pandarus! This guy is always reducing Troilus and Cressida's relationship to nothing more than sex. Here, he tries to rush them to the bedroom instead of allowing them to talk for even a few moments. It's no wonder Cressida calls her uncle a "bawd" (a.k.a. "pimp").

When Cressida invites Troilus inside her house, she uses a phrase commonly associated with Elizabethan prostitutes—not once, but twice. This reinforces the idea that the relationship between the famous lovebirds isn't actually about love.

This isn't the first time we've seen the play emphasize the relationship between love and conflict, right? Here, Paris describes the relationship between opposing warriors as "noblest hateful love." Translation? Total frenemies, except the good kind. (We guess?) Guys like Aeneas and Diomedes may be on opposite sides of the war, but they've got a lot of "love" and respect for each other as warriors. Most of the guys in this play seem to value this kind of male bonding more than other "love" based relationships.

Um. Gross. When Cressida betrays Troilus with Diomedes, Troilus compares Cressida's love to "scraps" and "bits of greasy" food leftovers. Yep. That's about as crude as saying something like Diomedes is getting "sloppy seconds" or that he's getting leftovers that someone else (a.k.a. Troilus) has puked up.