Troilus and Cressida Act 1, Scene 3 Summary & Analysis

In the Greek camp, Agamemnon holds a war council. The war has come to a stalemate and every offensive by the Greeks seems to be thwarted by divine intervention. It is, Agamemnon declares, a trial set by Jove to test the Greeks’ resolve and mettle. Nestor agrees that difficult times prove people’s characters.

The action now moves to the Greek camp, where frustrations are running high. Agamemnon initially tries to attribute the protracted (by now, years-long) war and current stalemate to the vagaries of fate, suggesting that it’s outside of anyone’s ability to control.

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Ulysses effusively compliments Agamemnon and Nestor on their speeches, but he thinks the problem is the shocking lack of discipline among the Greek forces. Humankind isn’t exempt from nature, where laws and hierarchies keep things running smoothly. Likewise, societies can only function well when everyone knows—and respects—their place in the social hierarchy. Not everyone among the Greek forces does that any longer, especially Achilles and his friend Patroclus, who refuse to fight and spend their days mocking their betters, including their general, Agamemnon.

Ulysses disagrees with Nestor’s and Agamemnon’s diagnosis of the problem. This isn’t just bad luck but systemic dysfunction and lack of discipline. Ulysses’s speech is frequently quoted and mined for ideals about society in Shakespeare’s day, with its emphasis on order and hierarchy. But it’s worth paying attention to how Ulysses does—and does not—follow his own ideals here. And his speech also quietly chides Agamemnon’s critical lack of leadership for allowing Achilles and Patroclus to behave so disobediently without punishment in the first place.

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And they’re not alone. Nestor pipes up to complain about Ajax’s similarly inflated sense of self- importance and willingness to second-guess his superiors. Ulysses agrees that both Achilles and Ajax are hot-headed, arrogant, and ignorant of the kinds of strategy necessary to win the war. Nestor goes so far as to say that Achilles’s horse is more valuable to the war effort than the man himself at this point.

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The Greek generals understand Achilles’s revolt as a poison or illness that’s slowly making the entire Greek army ill. Again, while blame falls particularly on the heads of a few obstinate warriors, it seems that dysfunction, lack of agreement, and loss of purpose afflict the ranks generally. Bereft of a good reason for fighting, warriors like Achilles and Ajax merely indulge their pride and ego.

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A trumpet heralds the arrival of an envoy from Troy—Aeneas. He praises Agamemnon so effusively that Agamemnon begins to suspect he’s being mocked. But courtesy and etiquette are important in the Trojan court. He’s come to bring a challenge from Hector to any Greek warrior willing to face him in one-on-one combat to determine whose beauty and worth are higher—that of Hector’s wife Andromache or that of the true love of his Greek challenger. Agamemnon is confident that one of his warriors will accept. Indeed, Nestor says, if no one else does, he’ll don his armor and fight for the reputation of Greek women despite his advanced years.

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The stylized, courteous language with which Aeneas greets Agamemnon immediately raises the Greek general’s suspicions, suggesting that he’s no longer used to being respected—and thus that the insubordination among his ranks is worse than already described. Another way to read this interaction is to notice that the men seem more invested in courtly word games than in fighting. They have, the play suggests, lost their sense of purpose. The idea that Hector would pause the war for a showcase fight (with Achilles, he hopes) suggests that deep down, he’s more interested in impressing people than in putting a swift end Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita

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Agamemnon and the others leave to escort Aeneas through the Greek camp as he announces his challenge, leaving Nestor and Ulysses behind. They discuss the challenge, which is obviously leveled toward Achilles, hands down the strongest fighter among the Greeks. Nestor is confident in Achilles’s ability to win, but he frets that doing so will increase his arrogance and sow further seeds of discord and disobedience among the men. Ulysses proposes that they declare a lottery to pick the challenger, then manipulate it so Ajax wins and gets to fight Hector, thus rebuking Achilles’s arrogance. Nestor thinks this is a marvelous idea.

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At the beginning of this scene, Ulysses complained of insubordination and lack of respect among the Greek ranks, yet he himself is insubordinate when he goes behind Agamemnon’s back in his effort to teach Achilles a painful lesson. It’s also not clear whether this will solve the fundamental problem. Achilles might feel stung by the slight of watching an inferior man face Hector, but it’s unlikely this will do anything other than further intensify Ajax’s pride. The play is uniquely unkind to the supposedly heroic men whose tales it tells, showing them to be petty, manipulative, and egotistical.

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Troilus and Cressida: Act 1, Scene 3 Summary & Analysis