SOURCE: Slights, Camille. “The Parallel Structure of Troilus and Cressida.” Shakespeare Quarterly 25, no. 1 (winter 1974): 42-51.

In the following essay, Slights examines the distinctive structure of Troilus and Cressida, and concludes that through the effects of the play's paralleling of scenes and the love and war plots, Shakespeare created what may be called a tragic satire.

More than any other play in the canon, Troilus and Cressida has been the subject of apparently limitless disagreement. Critical controversies surround almost every aspect of the play. Did Shakespeare portray the Trojans more favorably than the Greeks? Is Troilus a sensualist deceiving himself with the posturings of an outworn code of amour courtois or an idealist in a corrupt world, an embodiment of human striving for perfect love and honor? Is the play Shakespeare's experiment with the new genre of comic satire or is it an attempt at tragedy? Why is the...