ABSTRACT
Even so short an account as this makes it obvious that Shakespeare has given a different interpretation of both the epic and the erotic theme from those he found in his sources, while basing that interpretation on points of character and incident already there. Both sides in the war are disillusioned by their losses and the scant promise of victory. The Greeks are weary and disunited, and though there is no question here (as in Homer and Caxton) of giving up the siege without the return of Helen, she is represented and recognized as not worth the blood shed for her. There is division between the older and wiser leaders and their younger colleagues, whose faults are more apparent than their virtues.
