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Part of the book: Engaging with Troy

Edited by Francesca Rayner and Janice Valls-Russell

Transcript 27

Legenda

RenaissanceEnglishDramaFictionopen

Abstract.  Thersites, a minor character in Homer, nevertheless plays a key role in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. A put-upon figure in the Greek army at Troy, physically deformed, hairy, and with no kingship of his own, Thersites serves Shakespeare as a vehicle for the clown actor Robert Armin: yet he is not a comic turn, and his scenes are marked by sadism and cynicism. Early quartos of the play sometimes called it a comedy, sometimes a tragedy, and productions can seem a muddle of the two, but the character of Thersites forms a unifying connection between the romance-plot and the war-plot.

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