18 Facts About Cressida

Cressida's falls in love with Troilus, the youngest son of King Priam, and pledges everlasting love, but when she is sent to the Greeks as part of a hostage exchange, she forms a liaison with the Greek warrior Diomedes.

The woman in the love triangle is here called not Cressida but Briseida, a name derived from that of Briseis, a different character in the Iliad, who again is neither related to Calchas nor involved in any love affairs with Troilus or Diomedes.

Cressida has most often been depicted by writers as "false Cressida", a paragon of female inconstancy.

Cressida's poem takes up the repentant Cresseid's story after she has developed leprosy and been abandoned by Diomedes.

In both of these cases, Cressida's being true to Troilus is associated with her death as part of the concluding tragic events.

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Pandarus and Troilus are discussing how the latter's unspoken love for the former's niece, Cressida, is preventing him from performing on the battlefield.

Cressida's first appears in person in the following scene, speaking to her manservant before Pandarus enters.

Once Pandarus exits Cressida admits in a soliloquy that she does in fact love Troilus, but is worried about publicising it.

Cressida's next appears in Act 3 Scene 2, when Pandarus leads her on stage wearing a veil to meet with Troilus.

Cressida becomes increasingly affected by her own qualities, saying 'I show more craft than love'.

Cressida's begs to be allowed to leave, but Troilus and Pandarus want her to stay, so that they can marry to immediate effect.

Cressida's seems to prophesise her own failings, repeating the word 'false' seven times before Pandarus 'seals' the match.

Once Troilus and Cressida are dressed, Aeneas visits in a panic to say that for the return of one of Troy's men from the Greeks, Antenor, they must trade Cressida over to Diomedes, a Greek general.

Cressida becomes an object to trade, and Troilus does nothing to prevent the sad event, though he is miserable for it.

Cressida's appears to lust after him, even giving him Troilus's sleeve as a love token, though quickly tries to retrieve it from him in a struggle, offering her own body in trade.

Troilus and Cressida has little performance history prior to the 20th century.

Cressida's character is as isolated from framing as the rest of the story—we never know how her life ends, there is no "ever after" for her, and even her beginning is mysterious to us.

Cressida's appears a witty young girl, only to become a serious, thoughtful, and thought-provoking woman in moments of reflection.