SOURCE: James, Heather. “‘Tricks We Play on the Dead’: Making History in Troilus and Cressida.” In Shakespeare's Troy: Drama, Politics, and the Translation of Empire, pp. 85-118. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

In the following essay, James explores the Elizabethan attitudes reflected in Shakespeare's treatment of history and legend in Troilus and Cressida, explaining that at the time the play was written the legend of the Trojan War and its warriors and lovers were viewed with mixed emotions by Elizabethans. James additionally relates elements of the play to the Essex rebellion.

The previous chapter argued that the gory, idiosyncratic Titus Andronicus inaugurates Shakespeare's career-long engagement of the translation of empire and that his aberrant reproductions of classical icons should be recognized as calculated assaults on the political program invested in transporting imperial authority from Rome to Elizabethan England. Titus Andronicus' eccentric rhetoric and dramaturgy raise questions about the successful...