Affiliation:
1. University of British Columbia
Abstract
In 1.3 of Troilus and Cressida, Ulysses reports that Patroclus has been
“pageanting” the Greeks for Achilles who languishes in bed. Ulysses claims
the performance is terrible: Patroclus’s gestures are ridiculous, his dialogue
wooden, his emotions overstated. We recognize, however, that Patroclus
is doing impressions and Achilles’ amusement is derived from hyperbolic
likenesses. This chapter will consider this scene of impersonation as both
private game and public play in order to show that while the bed game
is framed as wasteful and unproductive, the report constitutes a rare
moment in this play, in which words actually capture the truth of the
things they seek to represent.
Publisher
Amsterdam University Press