Introduction to the play
For Troilus and Cressida, set during the Trojan War, Shakespeare turned to the Greek poet Homer, whose epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey treat the war and its aftermath, and to Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales and the great romance of the war, Troilus and Criseyde.
The Folger Shakespeare
Our bestselling editions of Shakespeare's plays and poems
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center
Observe degree, priority, and place
—Ulysses
Act 1, scene 3, lines 89–90
Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet
—Agamemnon
Act 2, scene 3, line 163
Troilus and Cressida in our collection
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Essays and resources from The Folger Shakespeare
Troilus and Cressida
Learn more about the play, its language, and its history from the experts behind our edition.
About Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida
An introduction to the plot, themes, and characters in the play
Reading Shakespeare’s Language
A guide for understanding Shakespeare’s words, sentences, and wordplay
An Introduction to This Text
A description of the publishing history of the play and our editors’ approach to this edition
Textual Notes
A record of the variants in the early printings of this text
A Modern Perspective
An essay by Jonathan Gil Harris
Further Reading
Suggestions from our experts on where to learn more
Shakespeare and his world
Learn more about Shakespeare, his theater, and his plays from the experts behind our editions.
Shakespeare’s Life
An essay about Shakespeare and the time in which he lived
Shakespeare’s Theater
An essay about what theaters were like during Shakespeare’s career
The Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays
An essay about how Shakespeare’s plays were published
Related blog posts and podcasts
Play on! Q&A: Lillian Groag on translating 'Troilus and Cressida'
Lillian Groag writes about the challenges of translating one of Shakespeare’s more obscure plays, ‘Troilus and Cressida,’ for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play on! project.
Staging Shakespeare in a day
Kimberly Gilbert will play Joan la Pucelle in 2016 in Bootleg Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 1. Photo by Marcus Kyd. On Monday, July 18, the Taffety Punk Theatre Company will take over Folger Theatre to plan and perform a “bootleg” version…
Teaching Troilus and Cressida
Use the Folger Method to teach any of Shakespeare’s works. Become a Teacher Member to get exclusive access to lesson plans and professional development.
The Key to Getting ALL Students Understanding and Interpreting Complex Texts
The Key to Getting ALL Students Understanding and Interpreting Complex Texts
Free resource
The First Week of School: Literature Line Toss
The First Week of School: Literature Line Toss
2-Line Scenes - General Shakespeare
Free resource
The Monologue Project
The Monologue Project
Free resource
Essential Everyday Bravery
Early printed texts
Troilus and Cressida exists in two different early versions, both of which have complicated histories, although the textual variants are not significant enough for most readers to notice. The play was first published in 1609 as a quarto that exists in two different states. The earlier state (Qa) has a title page describing the play as a “Historie” published “As it was acted by the Kings Majesties servants at the Globe.” The second state (Qb), however, has a title page that does not refer to the play’s performance and includes a prefatory letter, “A never writer, to an ever reader,” that asserts that the play was “never stal’d with the Stage, never clapper-clawd with the palmes of the vulger.” (Scholars are divided on the assertion that the play was never performed.)
The play was then included in the 1623 First Folio (F1) as The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida, albeit only after some confusion; a few copies of F1 survive without the play and it was never listed in the book’s “Catalogue,” or table of contents. The play seems to have been intially slated to appear in the middle of the tragedies, just after Romeo and Juliet, and a few copies still include a leaf that has the ending of Romeo and Juliet on one side and the start of Troilus and Cressida on the other. (The Folger’s Fo.1 no.45 is one such copy.) But before the full play could be printed, there was apparently a change of plans. The play was moved to appear after the last play in the history section, Henry VIII, and the first play in the tragedy section, Coriolanus. A prologue to the play (not in Q) was also added, facing the ending of Henry VIII.
