The Subversive Homeric Reality in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare stigmatizes the tragic aspect of Troilus and Cressida by subverting the Homeric narrative which is largely based on Mythos. Instead, he presents a theatrical rendition in which the Logos has the upper hand. In retrospect, Shakespeare uses mythical characters to accentuate the battle between Mythos and Logos: “It has often been maintained, and it is still widely held, that the civilization of ancient Greece underwent a development from myth to reason, or - to adopt the Greek-derived terms which have sometimes assumed talismanic status in relation to the debate-from Mythos to Logos”(Buxton 1999, p. 1). The Shakespearean play displays the flawed human side of these supposedly god-like men by using a Homeric bravado. Some Shakespearean characters in this play represent Logos, others Mythos, or can shift from one to another. By dismissing Mythos as a world of illusion, treachery, and fools, the Shakespearean rendition of the Homeric narrative undermines the commonly perceived tradition of the heroic age as noble or an ideal form of reality. In effect the disappearance of the heroic trait negates the concept of the fallen protagonist which is characteristic of Greek tragedies. Hence, Troilus and Cressida becomes a problem play because it is torn between two worlds which is that of Mythos and Logos.