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Why Did John Dryden Rehabilitate Cressida?
- SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 58, Number 3, Summer 2018
- pp. 543-568
- 10.1353/sel.2018.0021
- Article
- Additional Information
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ABSTRACT:
This article explains why and how John Dryden chose to break with narrative tradition in making his Cressida faithful in Troilus and Cressida, or, Truth Found Too Late (1679), one of three of his reworkings of Shakespeare. Dryden goes beyond his predecessors' misogynistic satires to explore interiority and substantive psychology in his characterization of Cressida and Andromache. In so doing, he extends Shakespeare's bitter critique of military heroism, especially in its pretenses concerning, and consequences for, women. In its handling of gender politics and masculine combativeness, it is of a piece with most of Dryden's serious plays and his writing throughout his career.