Troilus and Cressida, Act 5 Scene 5 runs 50 lines of dialogue, spoken by 7 speakers. That is shorter than the play’s average scene length of about 144 lines. This scene is part of Act 5 of Troilus and Cressida.
Full Dialogue
Diomedes ♂
Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastised the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastised the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.
Servant ♂
I go, my lord.
Agamemnon ♂
Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamas
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner,
And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polyxenes is slain,
Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt,
Patroclus ta'en or slain, and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner,
And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polyxenes is slain,
Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt,
Patroclus ta'en or slain, and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Nestor ♂
Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is call'd impossibility.
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is call'd impossibility.
Ulysses ♂
O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,
Engaging and redeeming of himself
With such a careless force and forceless care
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,
Engaging and redeeming of himself
With such a careless force and forceless care
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.
Ajax ♂
Troilus! thou coward Troilus!
Diomedes ♂
Ay, there, there.
Nestor ♂
So, so, we draw together.
Achilles ♂
Where is this Hector?
Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry:
Hector? where's Hector? I will none but Hector.
Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry:
Hector? where's Hector? I will none but Hector.
50 lines rendered verbatim from the dialogue corpus.
Who’s On Stage
Speaking characters in this scene
| Character | Lines | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Nestor | 14 | 28.0% |
| Ulysses | 13 | 26.0% |
| Agamemnon | 11 | 22.0% |
| Diomedes | 6 | 12.0% |
| Achilles | 4 | 8.0% |
| Servant | 1 | 2.0% |
| Ajax | 1 | 2.0% |
Line distribution
The top speaker in this scene delivers 14 lines, while the scene’s average per speaker is about 7 lines.
Total speakers on stage
7 named characters speak in this scene.
Scene in Context
Position within Act 5
This is Scene 5 of 10 in Act 5 of Troilus and Cressida.
Scene length vs. play average
At 50 lines, this scene is shorter than the Troilus and Cressida average scene in Troilus and Cressida (~144 lines).
Adjacent scenes
Previous: Act 5 Scene 4 · Next: Act 5 Scene 6
About Act 5 Scene 5 of Troilus and Cressida
Who carries Act 5 Scene 5 of Troilus and Cressida?
Nestor, with 14 lines — about 28% of the scene.
Is the scene a dialogue or a solo?
With 7 speakers and the lead holding 28% of the lines, this scene is a balanced multi-voice exchange.