Alaskan Bulgarian

Troilus and Cressida

When you're teaching literature to eleventh graders for one year in Bulgaria, you want to take your chances on some things. After giveing them Shakespeare's over-studied sonnets 18 and 130 two weeks in a row, yesterday we talked about a play I've never heard of anyone really studying, "Troilus and Cressida." I chose it for a couple of reasons. They'd already studied "Hamlet" in Bulgarian last year, for one, and that would be the one standard I'd go for. Another big factor was the popularity of "Troy" around these parts. I wanted to show them that 400 years ago Shakespeare had written something about that battle just as entertaining and unfaithful to the original story as that Brad Pitt thing that played for three weeks here in town.

It's really not one of Shakespeare's best plays, but it is a fun and reasonably easy read, with themes we'd already talked about in class. Immortality through fame is part of both sonnet 18 and T+C, and they connected on that. The oddest thing about the play is Achilles' anger. He's not not fighting because Agamemnon took away his woman, he's sitting it out because, as the other characters say "he's proud." Why Shakespeare never mentioned the woman factor is beyond me. He might have been trying to secretly highlight the "relationship" between Achilles and his Robin, Patroclus. Patroclus is almost a main character in the play.

Anyway, I don't want to analyze it too deeply here. I just think the students had a good time with it, and I'm glad I took a shot at a play I don't think any of them would have to read unless they absolutely devoted themselves to English. It turned out to be a great lesson. That's all.