Troilus and Cressida · Chapter
Scene II explained
Troilus, impatient and lovesick, enlists Pandarus to arrange a meeting with Cressida.
What happens
Troilus, impatient and lovesick, enlists Pandarus to arrange a meeting with Cressida. After initial shyness, Cressida confesses her long-standing love for Troilus. They exchange vows of eternal fidelity, with Troilus declaring himself the standard of truth and Cressida vowing that if she proves false, her name will become synonymous with betrayal. Pandarus witnesses their vows and leads them to a chamber.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Betrayal
The lovers' passionate vows of eternal truth are undercut by the audience's knowledge of future betrayal, as Cressida's name becomes synonymous with falsehood.
Deception and Manipulation
Pandarus orchestrates the meeting, and both lovers engage in self-conscious performance—Cressida admits she was 'hard to seem won,' and Troilus idealizes their love with exaggerated rhetoric.
Cynicism and Idealism
Troilus's idealistic vows contrast with Cressida's pragmatic fears and the play's cynical framing of love as a transaction or performance.
Characters to notice
- Troilus
Expresses his intense love and impatience to meet Cressida; vows eternal truth and fidelity, declaring 'As true as Troilus' as a future standard.
- Cressida
Confesses her love for Troilus after initial hesitation; vows that if false, her name will be used as a byword for falsehood.
- Pandarus
Acts as go-between, arranging the meeting and witnessing the lovers' vows; declares that all go-betweens should be called 'Pandars' after him.
- Boy
Troilus' servant; briefly appears to inform Pandarus of his master's whereabouts.
Key passages
“I have loved you night and day For many weary months.”
Cressida confesses that she has loved Troilus for a long time.
Cressida reveals the depth and duration of her feelings, countering Troilus's earlier perception of her as hard to win.
“As true as Troilus shall crown up the verse, And sanctify the numbers.”
Troilus declares that his name will become the ultimate symbol of faithfulness in poetry.
Troilus's grand vow of constancy is both idealistic and ironic given the tragic outcome of their love.
“If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth... let them say, to stick the heart of falsehood, 'As false as Cressid.'”
Cressida vows that if she is ever unfaithful, her name will be used as the epitome of betrayal.
Cressida's self-curse foreshadows her eventual betrayal and the lasting infamy of her name.