The Welsh 'Troelus A Cresyd': Toward a Better Understanding

Author / Editor
Ainsworth, Jeanette Therese.

Title
The Welsh 'Troelus A Cresyd': Toward a Better Understanding

Published
Dissertation Abstracts International 40 (1980): 4015A-16A.

Description
The dramatic Welsh work written in Shakespeare's time is a unique and important contribution to the Troilus-Cressida tradition. The author eliminates any elements of plot, theme, or character from his sources (Chaucer's TC and Henryson's "Testament of Cresseid") which might undercut his more tragic, moral, and philosophical focus.
Characters are less complex than their English counterparts. Calcas is the author's original contribution. Unlike 16th-century portrayals of her as a shameless harlot, Cresyd is a tragic heroine, a victim of love and war, and a personification of all individuals trapped by circumstances they are too weak to control.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde.
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.