Play description

ACT I

Scene 1. Seven years have passed since the princes of Greece first began their siege of Troy, to avenge

the abduction of Menelaus' wife Helen by Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy. Troilus, another Trojan

prince, has no appetite for war, being in love with Cressida, whose father Calchas has defected to the

Greeks. Her uncle Pandarus is acting as the lovers' go-between.

Scene 2. As Cressida watches the Trojan warriors returning from the battlefield Pandarus sings

Troilus's praises. Cressida pretends lighthearted indifference but once she is alone she reveals her love

for him.

Scene 3. Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks, is dissatisfied with the slow progress of the war.

Ulysses believes that "Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength." He places the blame with

Achilles, who, inflated with his own heroic reputation, lounges in his tent with the scurrilous

Thersites, ridiculing his fellow Greeks. Aeneas, a Trojan warrior, brings a challenge from Hector, son

of Priam, to any Greek "that holds his honor higher than his ease." Ulysses understands that the

challenge is meant for Achilles, but suggests to Nestor that they deflate the insolent warrior's pride by

sending the "blockish Ajax" instead.