Achilles (Troilus and Cressida)

Play

Troilus and Cressida

Summary

The greatest Greek warrior, who at the play's opening has withdrawn to his tent out of wounded pride and a secret attachment to a Trojan princess. Shakespeare's Achilles is vain, idle, and ultimately savage — he reenters the war not out of heroism but because his companion Patroclus is killed, and his killing of Hector is a cold-blooded ambush rather than honorable combat, making him the play's most damning portrait of martial celebrity.

Notable Quotations

"My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirr'd; / And I myself see not the bottom of it." *(III.iii)*

Cross-references

• Troilus and Cressida — the play
• Tragedies
• character_hector — the Trojan champion he kills treacherously
• character_ulysses — who schemes to shame him into action
• character_thersites — his cynical attendant and fool
• character_agamemnon — the Greek commander he refuses to obey