ABSTRACT
In Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare initially presents his audience with Greeks and Trojans who have quite distinct problems. Shakespeare puts his absence in a peculiarly humanistic context by having Ulysses give voice to a series of moral commonplaces about 'degree', but the orthodox forms of virtue defined in Ulysses's speech, so useful to students of the history of ideas, virtually drop out of Greek discussions of the problem with that speech. The Greeks, tutored by Ulysses and represented in the extremist form by Thersites, are made considerably more cynical in their response to the dilemmas and opportunities afforded by this sort of honour than the Trojans, who, urged on by Troilus and followed most pathetically by Hector, are made to obey like marionettes the demands of their self-imposed master. In Troilus and Cressida, however, Shakespeare fully exploits the dilemma implicit in this aberrant and compelling code of behaviour.
