History Theatre / TroilusAndCressida

** In the medieval ''Roman de Troie'', Troilus's love interest is named Briseida, based on the ''Iliad'''s Briseis (who has no such story attached to her). Shakespeare follows Chaucer and others in combining her with the unrelated Chryseis to form Cressida.

** In the medieval ''Roman die Troie'', Troilus's love interest is named Briseida, based on the ''Iliad'''s Briseis (who has no such story attached to her). Shakespeare follows Chaucer and others in combining her with the unrelated Chryseis to form Cressida.

** In the medieval ''Roman die Troie'', Troilus's love interest is named Briseida, based on the ''Iliad'''s Briseis (who has no such story attached to her). Shakespeare follows Chaucer and others in combining her with the unrelated Ceyseis to form Cressida.

* CompositeCharacter: Other characters mention that Ajax is half Trojan, and that his mother was Priam's sister. In ''Literature/TheIliad,'' Ajax is simply a Greek warrior, but his half-brother Teucer (who also fights for the Greeks) is the son of Priam's sister who was taken as a war prize, who was given to Telamon, after Heracles sacked Troy because Priam's dishonest father had not kept his word and sent two ordinary horses instead of the two he had promised Heracles for his services in one of Heracles' adventures.

* BadassGrandpa: Nestor is old as dirt, but said to be still as capable a soldier as he ever was.

** These elements are remnants of the play using both Classical Greek literature as a source, as well as Renaissance retellings of the war. Due to the fact the original Greek texts were unknown to the western world for a time and only recently available when the play was written results in conflict. This contrast of Classical and more contemporary sources leads to a thematic inconsistency in the play which has been noted in recent years. Shakespeare was using two very different sets of stories and tried to combine them. Since most modern readers learn about the story from the original Greek (or some adaptation of it) these characterizations will seem out of place.

* SadlyMythtaken: Cressida is such a common part of modern perceptions of the Trojan War it may come as a surprise that she is not a part of Greek Mythology. She instead a Renaissance invention derived from the two maidens Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel over, Briseis and Chryseis, making her an example of CompositeCharacter and AdaptationDecay.

%%* AchillesInHisTent: Literally.%%ZCE

* CompositeCharacter: Other characters mention that Ajax is half Trojan, and that his mother was Priam's sister. In ''Literature/TheIliad,'' Ajax is simply a Greek warrior, but his half-brother Teucer (who also fights for the Greeks) is the son of Priam's sister who was taken prisoner during an earlier invasion of Troy.

%%* LoveTriangle

%%* NameAndName
%%* NonActionSnarker: Thersites.%%ZCE

* AnachronismStew: Hector mentions Aristotle at one point... centuries before he lived. This line is even more ridiculous when you realize Aristotle actually taught about the Trojan War and was a scholar on Homer. This line is so stupid some scholars actually think a later editor must have put it in. Though given many other fairly obvious anachronisms are present in Shakespearean plays this likely just another dumb mistake on Shakespeare's part.
** To add to the list, Ulysses mentions "Bull-bearing Milo", a reference to the wrestler Milo of Croton who lived around the 6th century BCE, which would be about six hundred years after the Trojan War if modern estimates are correct.

** The play uses many feudal terms like knight, vassal, castle, etc. Likely due to them being (anachronistically) present in Chaucer and popular translations of Greek and Roman works, despite them not existing yet. This was common practice because many times contemporary systems were imposed onto ancient works as a way to make the texts more relatable, and reinforced by the fact translations were not seen as having to be accurate to their source, but rather as an enjoyable piece.

A problem play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, set during UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar-- Shakespeare used ''Literature/TheIliad'' as a reference. It has been variously described as a tragedy, a romance, and a tragicomedy; its oddly opposite but interwoven A and B plots make it difficult to classify.

The A plot, which provides the play name, is a romance-- Troilus, a brave warrior and prince of Troy, is desperately in love with Cressida. She returns his feelings, but is playing hard to get. Troilus uses Cressida's scatterbrained uncle, Pandarus, as a go-between; as a result, Pandarus spends most of the play singing Troilus' praises (and making bawdy jokes). Eventually, Troilus woos her and they consummate their relationship. However, Cressida's father, who defected to the Greeks, exchanges her for a Trojan soldier, and so the lovers are separated. Troilus asks her to be faithful, and gives her a love token (sleeve) to remember him by. He can't bear to be apart from her, though, so when everyone gathers for a duel between the two sides (see below), he goes to visit her. He discovers, however, that she has been seduced by Diomedes, a Greek warrior. In an extended scene, he and Ulysses watch secretly as she betrays him. Infuriated, Troilus decides to kill some Greeks, yells at Pandarus, and leaves the old man wondering what he did wrong.

* AchillesInHisTent: Literally.

* CharacterExaggeration

* GetTheeToANunnery

* LoveTriangle

* NameAndName
* NonActionSnarker: Thersites.

** The play uses many feudal terms like knight, vassal, castle, etc. Likely due to them being (anachronistically) present in Chaucer and translations of Greek and Roman works using the same terms, despite them not existing yet. This was common because many times their contemporary systems were imposed onto ancient works and as a way to make the texts more relatable,and also that translations were not seen as having to be accurate to their source, but rather as a more enjoyable piece.

** Calchas was not a Trojan defector, he was a Greek full and full.

** To add to the list, Ulysses mentions "Bull-bearing Milo", a reference to the wrestler Milo of Croton who lived around the 6th century BCE, which would be about six hundred years after the Trojan War is modern estimates are correct.