File talk:A Scene from Troilus and Cressida - Angelica Kauffmann.jpg

Cressida as innocent protagonist / Restraining Troilus
Main entry says Troilus is protagonist. I would argue (at horrible length, with mind-numbing detail) that Lady Cressida holds that spot; in any case, if the "problem play" is as problematic as advertised, and the academic debate over "bitter" characterization is any indication (a few scholars argue the play has no sympathetic characters at ALL) then perhaps no protagonist should be listed. As to the picture, it assumes Lady Cressida is a flirtatious slut (see main entry's matter-of-fact assumption of her "perfidy") and oddly, that someone besides Ulysses is restraining Troilus--but no one else besides the scabrous Thersites is present in the tent scene, and Thersites is apart from Ulysses/Troilus, a "second level" of eavesdropping upon the two eavesdroppers upon the "arranged couple" (for lack of a better phrase to describe Cressida being traded to the Greeks, and her uneasily latching onto the Greek warrior inexplicably assigned to her). I suppose the picture is an adequate depiction of the usual interpretation of the play and scene, but this interpretation is far from final. Melvyn Levental in the Shakespeare Newsletter circa 1997 makes a very cogent argument as to Lady Cressida's faithfulness (alas, not cited in any later editions of the play, although David Bevington in the Arden 3 of 1998 is inclined to see her status as unsettled). [exact title/date/etc. of Levental article--something close to "Cressida at the Tailhook"--to come] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Megaloschmuck (talk • contribs) 21:18, 25 September 2010 (UTC)