Characters

The cast of Troilus and Cressida

The people who make Troilus and Cressida move — what they want, who they love, who they hate, and how each one fits the story. Tap any name to read more.

Son of Thetis (goddess); raised by Chiron; lover/companion of Patroclus

Achilles

Greek champion and supreme warrior; lover of Patroclus; agent of Hector's death · Middle-aged

Descendant of Anchises; cousin-german to Priam's lines

Aeneas

Trojan herald, warrior, and intermediary between Greeks and Trojans

Brother to Menelaus

Agamemnon

Supreme Greek commander; architect of policy and rhetorical persuasion

Wife of Hector; daughter-in-law to Priam and Hecubas

Andromache

Wife of Hector; voice of domestic dread and prophetic warning

Daughter of Priam and Hecuba; sister to Hector and Troilus

Cassandra

Prophetess and voice of doom; Trojan princess whose warnings are dismissed · Young woman

Daughter of Calchas (a Trojan seer who defected to the Greeks)s

Cressida

Trojan woman caught between love and survival; the play's emblem of betrayal · Young woman

Wife of Menelaus (Greek); lover of Paris (Trojan)s

Helen of Troy

The cause of the Trojan War; a beautiful but morally ambiguous woman at the center of conflict

father; brother; sister; wife; brothers

Hector

The noble Trojan champion and defender of Troy; elder son of Priam · 30

Husband of Helen; brother to Agamemnons

Menelaus

Cuckolded husband of Helen; Greek commander caught between shame and duty

King of Pylos; married with sons fighting in the wars

Nestor

Veteran Greek general and wise counselor; moral voice of reason · Elderly; fought in the generation before the current war

Uncle to Cressidas

Pandarus

Go-between and bawdy uncle; architect of the lovers' affair and its undoing

Son of Priam; brother to Hector and Troilus

Paris

Trojan prince and lover of Helen; pragmatist caught between desire and duty

son; son; daughter; son; daughter-in-laws

Priam

King of Troy, father to Hector and Troilus; voice of restraint and wisdom · elderly

Son of Priam, king of Troy; brother to Hector, Paris, and Cassandras

Troilus

Trojan prince caught between desire and disillusionment; romantic idealist undone by betrayal · Sixteen to twenty years old

Other characters

Thersites

Deformed Greek scold, satirist, and allowed fool; servant to Ajax

Ulysses

Greek strategist and philosopher; master of rhetoric and political manipulation

Ajax

Greek warrior; a strong but slow-witted commander, praised by flattery, made a rival to Achilles

Diomedes

Greek warrior and pragmatist; instrument of Cressida's betrayal

Patroclus

Achilles' companion and voice of reason; the softening force against his pride

Servant

Attendant to Paris; minor messenger and functionary

Alexander

Cressida's attendant; messenger and informant on the battlefield