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| Character | Ulysses | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Scolding, Persuasive, Descriptive, Complaining | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Action, Romance, Historical, Tragedy, War | |
| Description | Ulysses analyses the problems of the Greek army | |
| Location | ACT I, Scene 3 | |
Summary
The prologue introduces us to the story. The play is about the Trojan War, the mythological war between Troy and several Greek kings led by Menelaus of Sparta. The war starts when Paris of Troy steals the beautiful Helen from Menelaus. In response, the Spartan king gathers 69 princes from several cities in Greece and attacks Troy in order to rescue Helen. The play starts in the middle of the war, that is 7 years after the war started.
In the first two scenes we are introduced to the main characters in the Trojan side and Troilus' love for Cressida.
In the third scene we are in the Greek camp. After Agamemnon, a Greek general, and Nestor, a commander, urge other kings and commanders to keep fighting the war even if they have been fighting for seven years and are encountering many obstacles, Ulysses, one of the most respected commanders in the Greek army, gives a speech where he analyses the problems of the Greek army. In this political speech, Ulysses acknowledges what Agamemnon and Nestor have pointed out but he argues that the main problem with their army is that there is no respect for "degree", that is authority, and that's why there is anarchy in their army. One of the reasons of this is that Achilles, their greatest warrior, refuses to fight and just stays in his tent with his friend Patroclus who makes fun of Greek commanders.
In the first two scenes we are introduced to the main characters in the Trojan side and Troilus' love for Cressida.
In the third scene we are in the Greek camp. After Agamemnon, a Greek general, and Nestor, a commander, urge other kings and commanders to keep fighting the war even if they have been fighting for seven years and are encountering many obstacles, Ulysses, one of the most respected commanders in the Greek army, gives a speech where he analyses the problems of the Greek army. In this political speech, Ulysses acknowledges what Agamemnon and Nestor have pointed out but he argues that the main problem with their army is that there is no respect for "degree", that is authority, and that's why there is anarchy in their army. One of the reasons of this is that Achilles, their greatest warrior, refuses to fight and just stays in his tent with his friend Patroclus who makes fun of Greek commanders.
Written by Administrator
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| ULYSSES Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down, And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master, But for these instances. The specialty of rule hath been neglected: And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions. When that the general is not like the hive To whom the foragers shall all repair, What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded, The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre Observe degree, priority and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office and custom, in all line of order; And therefore is the glorious planet Sol In noble eminence enthroned and sphered Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, And posts, like the commandment of a king, Sans cheque to good and bad: but when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues and what portents! what mutiny! What raging of the sea! shaking of earth! Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors, Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married calm of states Quite from their fixure! O, when degree is shaked, Which is the ladder to all high designs, Then enterprise is sick! How could communities, Degrees in schools and brotherhoods in cities, Peaceful commerce from dividable shores, The primogenitive and due of birth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentic place? Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores And make a sop of all this solid globe: Strength should be lord of imbecility, And the rude son should strike his father dead: Force should be right; or rather, right and wrong, Between whose endless jar justice resides, Should lose their names, and so should justice too. Then every thing includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appetite; And appetite, an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power, Must make perforce an universal prey, And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon, This chaos, when degree is suffocate, Follows the choking. And this neglection of degree it is That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd By him one step below, he by the next, That next by him beneath; so every step, Exampled by the first pace that is sick Of his superior, grows to an envious fever Of pale and bloodless emulation: And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot, Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length, Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength. [NESTOR Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd The fever whereof all our power is sick.] [AGAMEMNON The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses, What is the remedy?] ULYSSES The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns The sinew and the forehand of our host, Having his ear full of his airy fame, Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent Lies mocking our designs: with him Patroclus Upon a lazy bed the livelong day Breaks scurril jests; And with ridiculous and awkward action, Which, slanderer, he imitation calls, He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon, Thy topless deputation he puts on, And, like a strutting player, whose conceit Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich To hear the wooden dialogue and sound 'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,-- Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks, 'Tis like a chime a-mending; with terms unsquared, Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling, From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause; Cries 'Excellent! 'tis Agamemnon just. Now play me Nestor; hem, and stroke thy beard, As he being drest to some oration.' That's done, as near as the extremest ends Of parallels, as like as Vulcan and his wife: Yet god Achilles still cries 'Excellent! 'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus, Arming to answer in a night alarm.' And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age Must be the scene of mirth; to cough and spit, And, with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget, Shake in and out the rivet: and at this sport Sir Valour dies; cries 'O, enough, Patroclus; Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion, All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, Severals and generals of grace exact, Achievements, plots, orders, preventions, Excitements to the field, or speech for truce, Success or loss, what is or is not, serves As stuff for these two to make paradoxes. |
