SSA

Early modern literature
Drama, gender & the body

Troilus and Cressida

Act 5, Scene 7

Modern spelling. Stage directions omitted.

Listen to Act 5. LibriVox volunteers recorded “Act 5” as one track, so it runs past this scene and includes stage directions this page leaves out. LibriVox catalog.

ACHILLES

Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;
Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel;
Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath;
And when I have the bloody Hector found,
Empale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your arms.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye.
It is decreed Hector the great must die.

THERSITES

The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. Now, bull! Now, dog! ’Loo, Paris, ’loo! now my double-hen’d Spartan! ’loo, Paris, ’loo! The bull has the game. ’Ware horns, ho!

MARGARELON

Turn, slave, and fight.

THERSITES

What art ?

MARGARELON

A bastard son of Priam’s.

THERSITES

I am a bastard too; I love bastards. I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in everything illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel’s most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgement. Farewell, bastard.

MARGARELON

The devil take , coward!

All of Troilus and Cressida

Opening and close

Prologue,

Act 1

Act 1, Scene 1Act 1, Scene 2Act 1, Scene 3,

Act 2

Act 2, Scene 1Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 3,

Act 3

Act 3, Scene 1Act 3, Scene 2Act 3, Scene 3,

Act 4

Act 4, Scene 1Act 4, Scene 2Act 4, Scene 3Act 4, Scene 4Act 4, Scene 5,

Act 5

Act 5, Scene 1Act 5, Scene 2Act 5, Scene 3Act 5, Scene 4Act 5, Scene 5Act 5, Scene 6Act 5, Scene 7Act 5, Scene 8Act 5, Scene 9Act 5, Scene 10

Open Troilus and Cressida in the 1623 First Folio. See its words in the cloud.

Modern spelling for reading. The edition is public domain in the United States. Edition source.