Troilus and Cressida is often referred to as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays,” a play that is complex, ambiguous, and difficult to categorize as comedy, tragedy, or history. Other problem plays are Measure for Measure (1604) and The Winter’s Tale (1611), though some critics even include Hamlet (1601) and The Merchant of Venice (1605) in the category. The term “problem play” did not exist in Shakespeare’s time; all the plays in the first folio were described as comedies, tragedies, and histories (Troilus and Cressida was deemed a tragedy).

The term “problem play” was first used in the 19th century to describe the realistic, open-ended plays of dramatists like Henrik Ibsen. Noticing the similarities between Ibsen’s drama and certain Shakespearean plays, the critic F. S. Boas applied the term to these Shakespearean works as well. As Boas’s categorization suggests, the most problematic of Shakespeare’s plays are also his most modern and existentialist works. Unlike a comedy, in which social harmony is restored at the end of the play, or a tragedy, in which the

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now