ABSTRACT
Cressida is the daughter of a Trojan priest who has defected to the Greeks during the ten-year siege of Troy. She is secretly attracted to Troilus, a young Trojan prince, but as she says earlier, ‘Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing’. Her uncle Pandarus is aware of her secret desires and pooh-poohs her equivocations and arranges for her to meet with Troilus – in this scene. To start with she and Troilus engage in the kind of verbal foreplay common to people desiring each other, but not quite able to commit themselves to love. Then Pandarus reappears and brings the conversation sharply back to sex. Suddenly she says openly to Troilus, ‘I have loved you night and day / For many weary months’ and shortly after, ‘Stop my mouth’ (i.e. ‘Kiss me’), but then she shrinks away and almost leaves. Troilus then swears his eternal fidelity ending with, ‘As true as Troilus’ shall crown up the verse / And sanctify the numbers’ (‘numbers’ = verses). This is her response.
