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Act 3, Scene 3
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Troilus and Cressida, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War
Love and Selfishness
Honor
Commodification of Women
Fate and Fortune
Summary
Analysis
In the early hours of the morning, Paris and a contingent of Trojan men come to Aeneas’s house with Diomedes. The Greek warrior has just returned Antenor to Troy and is ready to take Cressida to her father (Calchas) in the Greek camp. Although the two sides are locked in a bitter war, during this truce, warriors such as Aeneas and Diomedes have nothing but praise for each other’s valor and courtliness.
The truce makes clear how pointless everyone on both sides of the war seems to think their conflict is. They clearly relish trading compliments at least as much—and possibly more—than trading blows. This lovefest has all the ego-inflating benefits of conflict without any of the life-and-limb dangers.
Active
Themes
Paris pulls Aeneas aside and asks him to run ahead to Cressida’s house, where he has good reason to believe Troilus is spending the night. The two men know that Troilus won’t be pleased by this turn of events. As Aeneas departs, Paris stalls a little by asking Diomedes whether he (Paris) or Menelaus deserves to have Helen. Bitterly, Diomedes declares that whoever wants Helen can have her, in his opinion. She—and her loose sexual morals—have brought nothing but grief and pain to Greeks and Trojans alike.
