SOURCE: Maguire, Laurie E. “Performing Anger: The Anatomy of Abuse(s) in Troilus and Cressida.” Renaissance Drama n.s. 31 (2002): 153-83.

In the following essay, Maguire explains Cressida's submission to Diomedes, contending that she is a victim of Diomedes' abuse and manipulation and that “Cressida consequently behaves as do most abused women: she submits.”

Fortune is a woman, and it is necessary to beat her and maul her when you want to keep her under control.

—Machiavelli, The Prince¹

Shakespeare's Cressida has been heavily criticized for her transfer of allegiance from Troilus to Diomedes. Just twenty-four hours after consummating a relationship with Troilus, the man she has loved for “many weary months,” she accepts the advances of her Greek guard, Diomedes, and cements the relationship with a gift—the love token that Troilus had given her on parting. In Cressida's defense, critics note that her change of affection does...