The End of an Age: William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida

This paper discusses the subversion of the epic and medieval romance tradition through the elements of grotesque realism in William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. The play exposes chivalric values, courtly love, and romance values as invalid forms in the new age that is defined in more mercantile terms. Shakespeare shows the absurdity and hypocrisy of the concept of honor and courtly love ideals of the medieval culture through the fool and the go-between, Thersites and Pandarus, who can be interpreted as elements of grotesque realism of medieval folk culture as Bakhtin describes. For Bakhtin, this festive, carnivalesque spirit is crucial in the emergence of the Renaissance, a new culture with its own set of values and literary forms.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Bakhtin, Epic, Courtly Love, Grotesque

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