“In Time of Action”

This chapter reads Troilus and Cressida’s Patroclus as a male military spouse against a modern background of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and queer servicemembers and military spouses. Examining Patroclus in this light brings forward the relationship between military service and citizenship and the struggle of queer military families. It also examines Andromache’s experience of prophetic dreaming. Andromache reflects the stress military spouses experience due to their soldier’s service, which can manifest in anxiety, stress dreams, and mental illness. This chapter affords necessary consideration to the fact that contemporary military spouses report prophetic dreaming like Andromache’s.