Thursday, November 1, 2012

Troilus and Cressida, and a Bibliography that's Less Anticlimatic than the Play's Ending?


Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida resists the traditional genres, even tragedy, forming an ambiguous and anticlimactic ending. In creating such an ending, Shakespeare frees the play from traditional convention and lets the reader determine how to view the play, thus critiquing the limited scope of the tragic genre.


  •  Social Graph:
    • My roommates can give me an idea about whether or not my writing and ideas are accessible to people who aren't necessarily literate in Shakespeare.
    • I am going to ask people on Facebook and ask my family about my ideas. I have some friends who are into English and Shakespeare in general, so they may give me more specific feedback to me and tell me if my ideas are coherent.
  •  New Media
  • Social Networks
    • Like Ian, I posted my thesis on this site https://www.facebook.com/WilliamShakespeareAuthor?fref=ts and am asking for any opinions. I'm hoping there will be some closeted Troilus and Cressida fans out there that will come out of the closet and let me know about  their expert opinions!
    • http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187518.Troilus_and_Cressida gives me a good look at what readers think of the play, which will be really useful as I dissect it. There are a lot of readers out there that don't like this play, and it's important to know why, as my thesis is focusing on how Shakespeare is breaking convention in this play. I think Shakespeare's breaking convention is the reason why a lot of people don't like the play. They simply don't know what to do with it.
  • Traditional scholarly sources
    • Oates, Joyce. “The Tragedy of Existence: Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.” Originally published as two separate essays, in Philological Quarterly, Spring 1967, and Shakespeare Quarterly, Spring 1966.  This work really helps me grasp the idea of Troilus and Cressida within the context of the tragedy. I am better able to understand how the play defies this traditional genre and how it goes along with it.
    • Edmondson III, Henry T. "Rethinking The Values Of War." Public Integrity 8.3 (2006): 233-243. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. This article dissects the play's attitude about war, which is a very important overall theme to the play and will definitely be an important factor as I explain how war and the ending of the play factor into the play's decidedly anti-tragic theme.

1 comment:

  1. I'd like you to be more specific about the people in your social graph. What are a couple of their names? Why would "Tiffany Jones" or "Mark Johnson" be of any help?

    You're doing a genre study, so be sure to study genre. Go back to Aristotle's Poetics? Search Sakespeare studies for genre or tragedy studies? Check out the category of "problem play," too.

    Regrdng new media, I mean something more than online criticism. Can you look up images, podcasts, or blogs addressing your topic or at least using T&C somehow? A recorded performance (even audio only) might give you some analytical starting points. Does a give actor or director play to the more standard tragic mode, or perhaps they complicate the ambiguity that you perceive?

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