2. Troilus and Cressida as a Problem Play

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we consider Troilus and Cressida as a problem play, focusing on particular on the shifting definition of the term 'problem play' from the work of F. S. Boas in the late nineteenth century to that of Ernest Schanzer in the second half of the twentieth.

Reading list:
– F. S. Boas, Shakspere and his Predecessors (1896)
– W. W. Lawrence, Shakespeare's Problem Comedies (1931)
– E. M. W. Tillyard, Shakespeare's Problem Plays (1950)
– E. Schanzer, The Problem Plays of Shakespeare (1963)

Course

In this course, Professor Cedric Watts (University of Sussex) explores Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. We begin by thinking about the strangeness of the play: is it a history, a comedy, or a tragedy? was it performed in Shakespeare's lifetime? if so, where? After that, we move on to think specifically about its status as a 'problem play' – a slippery term in Shakespearean scholarship if ever there was one – before thinking about the staging of the play and its burgeoning appeal and success in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the final two modules, we explore some of the key themes in the play: first, the connected themes of war and appetite, both alimentary and sexual; second, true and false valuation.

Lecturer

Cedric Watts is an Emeritus Professor of English at Sussex University. He served in the Royal Navy before gaining a first class BA in English at Cambridge University. He has written six books on Conrad and his works: A Preface to Conrad, The Deceptive Text, Joseph Conrad, 'Heart of Darkness': A Critical and Contextual Discussion, Joseph Conrad: A Literary Life, and Joseph Conrad: 'Nostromo'(a Penguin critical study).

Cedric Watts's novel, Final Exam (written under the pseudonym 'Peter Green'), earned this tribute from Ian McEwan: 'I was fascinated and pleased by Final Exam - a stimulating blend of high-energy intellectual and sexual tease.'