Troilus and Cresida
The works of William Shakespeare have been awarded praise for their universality. They contain themes that everyone is familiar with-love, lust, revenge, glory. Troilus and Cressida is no different than any other of Shakespeare's works in this respect. One of the major themes in Troilus and Cressida is that of desire. Sexual desire, mimetic desire, and the desire for glory are all incorporated in the plot and characters of the play. One character in particular plays the advocate of sexual desire and desire in general. The name of a character is important to the nature of a character. Pandarus is aptly named, as he is a 'panderer.' He lives up to his name. He serves as Cressida's pimp, basically, in bringing Troilus and Cressida together. He ingratiates himself to Helen and makes love to her with words and beguiles with a song of 'love,' and throughout, he stresses his own importance in his 'service' of bringing about love or desire. From the outset of the play, Pandarus takes his name seriously. He begins the play by talking up his niece Cressida to Troilus. He speaks of her beauty and intelligence beyond all other women, including Helen. He woos Troilus to Cressida with claims that "she looked yesternight fairer th
Dr. Bernard kindly lectured on this one day in class, explaining the 'real' meaning of the song. This is Pandarus' most blatant line of desire in the play. Paris responds to Pandarus leading song appropriately for the content of Pandarus' song by saying, "He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love." As Pandarus' role in the play is that of the pimp, or the one who incites desire in others, this response is the ultimate affirmation of his success. Paris does not see love as the union of souls or any such nonsense. He sees it as "hot blood" and "hot deeds." Pandarus succeeds in his role as the seducer. He succeeds as the seducer with Cressida as well. She finally gives in to Pandarus, and Troilus, and agrees to see him. Pandarus gives her grief twice about "blushing," or keeping herself pure and Cressida finally agrees to sleep with Troilus in Act III, sc ii. To which Pandarus replies, "Go to, a bargain made. Seal it, seal it! . . . since I have taken such pains to bring you together, let all pitiful go-between be called to the world's end after my name: call them all Pandars." Pandarus gives his role his own name, and claims his rol
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 848
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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