Troilus and Cressida (Vol. 83) - Laurie E. Maguire (essay date 2002)
Laurie E. Maguire (essay date 2002)
SOURCE: Maguire, Laurie E. “Performing Anger: The Anatomy of Abuse(s) in Troilus and Cressida.” Renaissance Drama n.s. 31 (2002): 153-83.
[In the following essay, Maguire explains Cressida's submission to Diomedes, contending that she is a victim of Diomedes' abuse and manipulation and that “Cressida consequently behaves as do most abused women: she submits.”]
Fortune is a woman, and it is necessary to beat her and maul her when you want to keep her under control.
—Machiavelli, The Prince1
Shakespeare's Cressida has been heavily criticized for her transfer of allegiance from Troilus to Diomedes. Just twenty-four hours after consummating a relationship with Troilus, the man she has loved for “many weary months,” she accepts the advances of her Greek guard, Diomedes, and cements the relationship with a gift—the love token...
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