Original: This she? no, this is Diomed’s Cressida:
Modern: Is this really her? No, this is Diomedes’ Cressida now.

Original: If beauty have a soul, this is not she;
Modern: If beautiful people have souls, then this isn’t the same woman.

Original: If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimonies,
Modern: If our souls control our promises, and if promises are sacred,

Original: If sanctimony be the gods’ delight,
Modern: If sacred things make the gods happy,

Original: If there be rule in unity itself,
Modern: If there’s any order in being faithful to one person,

Original: This is not she. O madness of discourse,
Modern: Then this can’t be her. Oh, this crazy way of thinking

Original: That cause sets up with and against itself!
Modern: That argues both for and against the same point!

Original: Bi-fold authority! where reason can revolt
Modern: Two-sided logic! Where my mind can rebel

Original: Without perdition, and loss assume all reason
Modern: Without being destroyed, and defeat can take over all rational thought

Original: Without revolt: this is, and is not, Cressid.
Modern: Without fighting back: this both is and isn’t Cressida.

Original: Within my soul there doth conduce a fight
Modern: Inside my soul there’s a battle going on

Original: Of this strange nature that a thing inseparate
Modern: So strange that something that can’t be divided

Original: Divides more wider than the sky and earth,
Modern: Splits apart wider than the distance between sky and earth,

Original: And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Modern: And yet this huge gap between them

Original: Admits no orifex for a point as subtle
Modern: Won’t allow even the tiniest opening for something as thin

Original: As Ariachne’s broken woof to enter.
Modern: As a broken spider’s web thread to get through.

Original: Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto’s gates;
Modern: The proof, oh the proof! As strong as the gates of hell;

Original: Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven:
Modern: Cressida belongs to me, bound by heavenly promises:

Original: Instance, O instance! strong as heaven itself;
Modern: The proof, oh the proof! As strong as heaven itself;

Original: The bonds of heaven are slipp’d, dissolved, and loosed;
Modern: Those heavenly promises have slipped away, melted, and come undone;

Original: And with another knot, five-finger-tied,
Modern: And with a new bond, tied by her own hand,

Original: The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,
Modern: The broken pieces of her loyalty, the leftover scraps of her love,

Original: The fragments, scraps, the bits and greasy relics
Modern: The fragments, scraps, the bits and disgusting remains

Original: Of her o’er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
Modern: Of her used-up faithfulness, are now tied to Diomedes.

In Act V, Scene ii of “Troilus and Cressida,” Diomedes arrives at Calchas’s tent where Cressida now resides in the Greek camp. Troilus, accompanied by Ulysses, secretly observes the encounter from a distance, while Thersites also watches and comments cynically on the proceedings. Diomedes demands the sleeve that Cressida had promised him earlier, and despite her initial reluctance and protestations, Cressida eventually gives him the sleeve that Troilus had given her as a love token. The exchange reveals Cressida’s wavering loyalty as she flirts with Diomedes, though she attempts to maintain some dignity by claiming she does not love him even as she encourages his pursuit.

Troilus watches in anguish as the woman he loves betrays their vows, struggling to reconcile what he witnesses with his idealized image of Cressida. After Diomedes departs with a promise to return, Troilus emerges from hiding in a state of emotional turmoil, alternating between denial and rage. He declares that Cressida’s actions have divided her into two separate beings in his mind—the false Cressida he has just witnessed and the true Cressida he once loved. He resolves to seek out Diomedes in battle the following day and vows to send Cressida a letter breaking off their relationship, though his pain is evident throughout. Ulysses attempts to moderate Troilus’s distress while Thersites continues his bitter commentary on the faithlessness and folly he has observed.

Troilus and Cressida is set during the Trojan War and follows two interconnected storylines. The first centers on the tragic love affair between Troilus, a young Trojan prince, and Cressida, daughter of the Trojan priest Calchas who has defected to the Greeks. With the help of Cressida’s uncle Pandarus, the lovers are brought together and consummate their relationship, pledging eternal fidelity to one another.

Meanwhile, the Greek camp is plagued by dissension and a breakdown in military hierarchy. The war has dragged on for seven years with little progress. Agamemnon and Nestor struggle to maintain order while Achilles sulks in his tent, refusing to fight. The Greeks attempt to provoke Achilles by having Ajax challenge the Trojan hero Hector to single combat, but this strategy fails to rouse Achilles to action.

The two plots converge when the Greeks and Trojans arrange a prisoner exchange: Cressida is to be traded to the Greek camp in return for the Trojan commander Antenor. Despite their vows of love, Cressida is forced to leave Troy. Once in the Greek camp, she quickly becomes involved with the Greek warrior Diomedes. Troilus witnesses her apparent betrayal during a nighttime encounter and is devastated by her inconstancy.

The play concludes with renewed fighting between the two armies. Hector, despite ominous warnings, enters battle and is treacherously killed by Achilles and his Myrmidons. Troilus, consumed with grief and rage over both Cressida’s betrayal and Hector’s death, vows revenge against the Greeks. The play ends without resolution, as the war continues with both sides having suffered significant losses.