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Tag Archives: love
Dear Cressida, Your Actions Speak Louder Than Your Words!!
In our class discusions we have throughly discussed Cressida. Cressida’s relationship with Troilus. Cressida’s relationship with Diomedes. And every other relationship she has in the story. Still today, I don’t quite know where stand with her. I wonder if she was evil and conniving from the start or whether her actions were shoved upon her upon the Trojan and Greek exchange. One thing I do know if that she is most definitely deceitful and manipulative. She too, is unsure of what she might become someday. She says, ” I have a kind of self resides with you;/ But an unkind self, that itself will leave to be another’s fool. / I would be gone. Where is my wit? I know not what I speak” (3.2 149-152). In today’s urban society one would classfiy Cressida as a “trick,” someone who deceives, lies, and is untrustworthy. You can look it up in at Urbandictionary.com if you need further connotation. 🙂
Cressida’s relationship with Troilus is rather interesting because neither of them pledged any vows to be with each other for the rest of their lives. We can furthermore classify their relationship as a lustful one, lasting as long as a 3rd grade romance. And by the end we see what love or lust as one can call it has done to Troilus. One thing I know I am definitely in Troilus’s side.
A love as false as Cressid…
I found the oaths Troilus and Cressida very interesting. They were speaking as if they knew they were a story and that their tale would become an “epic.” The ironic thing is that Panderus’s extra added sentence was the only one to transcend the play and actually become a integral part of the English language. Troilus and Cressida may not be like Romeo and Juliet, who are madly in love and willing to sacrifice everything for each other. Nor are they like cunning Antony and Cleopatra, but they do try in their own way to become something of legend. We also discussed how self-conscious the characters in this play were and that may also be a reason that is holding them back from being true lovers. They seem only to care for their “image” of love than rather the love itself: you can’t love wholly and be self-conscious about it. Another thing is, this relationship does seem rather one-sided. Seems as if Troilus is the one who loves Cressida and Cressida is like, ‘well if this is the best I can do, I’ll take what I can get (a prince of Troy)’ and she doesn’t really have a passionate love for him which is why their bonds and promises and oaths are so easily broken: their love is not true.
Stubborn Love
This play had struck my interest for a few reasons. For one, I enjoyed reading the play and noticing how relaxed the text was to read and understand. I did enjoy reading how characters like Benedick spoke in way that was translucent and simply understandable. The prose of the text made for a more enjoyable reading. However, I most enjoyed seeing two tough and obstinate characters like Benedick and Beatrice (two people of whom) rejected any facet of true love fall completely in love. Through the beginning of the play, we can see how Benedick proclaims his declaration of a bachelor he says,
Those women conceived me. I thank her;
that she brought me up, I likewise give her most
humble thank. But that I will have a rechate
winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an
invisible baldrick,all women shall pardon me.
Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any
I will do myself the right to trust none…
I will live a bachelor. (1.1 229-236)
We can see that Benedick has no intentions of falling in love and will not have anything to do with women and truly believes that his relationship to a man is much closer to that of a women. In Benedick’s eyes all men are considered bachelors, and therefore unmarried. As stated above Benedick makes a reference to being taken by the horns, and it seem as if he does not want to be taken control of especially by a women. Benedick holds this philosophy of love true until the end of the play when his feelings are confronted and challenged by Beatrice, who is just as persistent as Benedick.
Beatrice’s’ mind-set seems to correspond exactly to Benedick’s. For one, she does not believe in love. This is because she truly thinks no man is going to suit her, in other words, no man will ever live up to her standards. Beatrice and Benedick develop feelings for each other. Thus, they cannot resist one another and cannot avoid falling in love.
Inception…?
Although I have not finished the entire play yet, my favorite part of the story has been Act II, Scene 3 and Act III, Scene 1 when both Benedick and Beatrice were tricked into falling in love with one another. The separate scenes where the men purposely lied with Benedick eavesdropping and where the women duped Beatrice were very well written.
It was funny to observe and compare all the techniques that were used during the conversations — the men created exaggerated stories about Beatrice’s passionate love for Benedick, such as how Beatrice is up “twenty times a night” (2.3.134) while scribbling the words “Benedick” and “Beatrice” over and over again. Later, the women worked together to basically beat down Beatrice’s self-esteem and stress how horrible she was for the way she acted towards a great man like Benedick. According to Ursula, “for shape, for bearing, argument, and valor” (3.1.96), Benedick was the best in Italy and Beatrice was too busy filled with scorn.
The question I pose is, did Beatrice and Benedick really fall in love with each other because of what they heard? Or was there already attraction before that?
I believe that Don Pedro, Claudio, Ursula, and Hero all played an important role in getting the relationship to progress at a faster pace. However, I don’t think they were the ones who can get the credit of planting the seeds of attraction. Despite the insults and the disdain they often showed one another (especially on Beatrice’s part), I sensed chemistry between them from the very beginning. Before Benedick ever appeared in the play, Beatrice was already denouncing him as a soldier/man of poor quality. Typically, women and men who find no interest in someone could care less about how another person was if they weren’t at least a little bit interested. Despite her insults, Benedick still alluded to Beatrice’s beauty during his discussion with Claudio early in the play.
Any thoughts or comments?
