Act 4, Scene 3

Troy. A street before PANDARUS' house

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 2246archaic vocab
“the hour prefix'd”
'Prefix'd' means fixed or appointed beforehand: the hour for Cressida's handover has already been set and the time is nearly up. Paris is telling Troilus to hurry.
TLN 2247cultural context
“her delivery to this valiant Greek”
Cressida is spoken of as goods to be 'delivered' — handed over from one party to another — in exchange for the Trojan prisoner Antenor. The commercial word strips her of agency: she has no say in the transaction and no voice in this scene at all.
historical Cressida and the 'false woman' traditionhistorical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 2254rhetorical device
“Think it an altar, and thy brother Troilus A priest, there off'ring to it his own heart”
Troilus uses an extended metaphor: handing Cressida to the Greek is like a priest placing a sacrifice on an altar — and the thing being sacrificed is his own heart. The image casts the transfer as a religious act of self-destruction rather than a mere exchange.
classical The Greek and Trojan heroes
TLN 2256historical topical
“I know what 'tis to love, And would, as I shall pity, I could help”
Paris claims he understands love and pities Troilus but cannot help him. The irony is acute: Paris's own love affair — taking Helen from her Greek husband — is the single cause of the war that has made this forced separation necessary.
classical The Judgement of Parisclassical Helen of Troy