This is a play which leaves many questions. Is it a comedy, a tragedy, or a mash-up? Is it pro-Trojan, pro-Greek, or anti-both? Are we supposed to hate or pity the main female character? What about her beau? And why does it end with everything still in the air?
For me, it may turn on a question bleaker still: Did Shakespeare not care enough to work this into something sharper?
Troilus And Cressida is magnificent in its language, its diversity of tones and contrasts, its philosophical arguments that weave and wend with Hamlet-level depth. As a play, though, it falls way short. I find it a tedious read, lacking focus as it cribs from Homer and Chaucer.
