Click on any scene below for a side-by-side translation from the original Shakespeare into modern English.
Prologue
An actor dressed in armor comes out and welcomes us to ancient Troy, where the Greeks and Trojans have been going at it on the Trojan battlefields for the last...get this...7 years.Since we're star...
Act 1, Scene 1
In front of King Priam's palace in Troy, Troilus calls over his servant to help him take off all his armor. (Get your highlighters out, kids, because armor is a major symbol that pops up all over t...
Act 1, Scene 2
On a street in Troy, the luscious Cressida hangs out with her servant Alexander, who entertains our girl with some juicy gossip about some key players in the Trojan war.Apparently, on his way to th...
Act 1, Scene 3
Over at the Greek camp, a bunch of commanders and soldiers hang out in front of Agamemnon's tent.Agamemnon tries to give his guys a pep talk about how, even though the Greeks have come up "short" a...
Act 2, Scene 1
Elsewhere in the Greek camp, Ajax yells at his slave Thersites, who ignores him and talks smack about what it would be like if Agamemnon had a bunch of nasty, oozing boils and skin ulcers.Ajax is e...
Act 2, Scene 2
In Troy, Priam and his sons talk about whether or not they should just give Helen back to the Greeks so they can end the war already.Hector thinks they should. He argues that every "soul" that's be...
Act 2, Scene 3
Back at the Greek camp, Thersites rants and raves about how much he hates that "elephant Ajax." He rags on Achilles, too, and asks the gods to destroy the entire Greek army. Better yet, he says, he...
Act 3, Scene 1
At Priam's palace, Pandarus chats with a servant while he waits to see Paris.The servant says that Paris is relaxing and listening to some music with "the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, l...
Act 3, Scene 2
Pandarus arrives at Calchas' garden, where Troilus has been pacing around waiting so Pandarus can escort him to Cressida's bedroom. (Pandarus sure is a very hands-on go-between, don't you think?)Tr...
Act 3, Scene 3
Over at the Greek camp, Cressida's dad Calchas reminds everyone that he risked a lot when he betrayed the Trojans and came over to their side.In return, he wants them to "exchange" one of their Tro...
Act 4, Scene 1
On a street in Troy, Aeneas meets up with Paris and his posse of Trojan leaders, along with Diomedes, a Greek leader. Aeneas greets Paris by saying something like "Hey, if I had a girl like Helen i...
Act 4, Scene 2
At Calchas' house, Troilus and Cressida stand at the gate and say goodbye after having spent the night together.They're having a kind of "You hang up." "No, you hang up" kind of conversation. (Soun...
Act 4, Scene 3
In front of Calchas' house, Paris tells Troilus that he has to go inside and get Cressida so they can trade her to the Greeks.He's sorry for Troilus but there's nothing he can do about it. After al...
Act 4, Scene 4
Inside the house, Pandarus tries to calm down Cressida.Troilus enters and breaks the bad news.He promises to love her forever as he holds her in his arms. (Even Pandarus is moved by this display of...
Act 4, Scene 5
Cut to the Greek camp, which looks like an ancient version of a Las Vegas boxing ring... except it's full of armor and other combat equipment instead of boxing gloves and stuff.Also, the lighting i...
Act 5, Scene 1
Achilles chills with Patroclus and talks trash about how he's going to make mincemeat out of Hector tomorrow.Then Thersites (the loudmouth slave) shows up at the Greek camp with a letter from Troy....
Act 5, Scene 2
Diomedes shows up at the tent looking for Cressida.Calchas invites him inside as Troilus and Ulysses watch from a distance and Thersites creeps up behind them to see what happens.Cressida is all co...
Act 5, Scene 3
The next morning, in Troy, Hector's wife Andromache begs her husband not to fight today.Hector says something horrible like, "Woman, you're asking for it with all this nagging."We find out that And...
Act 5, Scene 4
Cut to the battlefield, where Thersites watches everything go down while offering his nasty commentary on the action.Thersites tells us that Diomedes (the "whoremasterly villain") is running around...
Act 5, Scene 5
Diomedes sends his servant with a message to Cressida about how he just beat down her ex-boyfriend. He also sends along Troilus's horse as proof that he's now Cressida's "knight" in shining armor.A...
Act 5, Scene 6
Ajax and Diomedes run around calling out for Troilus to show his face. So they can smash it in.They bicker about who gets to fight him, until Troilus gets fed up and says that he'll take them both...
Act 5, Scene 7
Achilles shows up with his gang.He gives them detailed instructions about how he wants them to surround Hector and then "impale him" with their weapons. (Read: Stab him in the guts like he's J...
Act 5, Scene 8
Next, Menelaus and Paris battle their way across the stage.Thersites follows and yells out stuff like "Hey, it's the 'cuckold' and 'the cuckold maker' going at it. Get him Paris! Get him!"Then a gu...
Act 5, Scene 9
Hector, having vanquished the Greek soldier he was fighting, sets down his sword and begins to take off his armor.Achilles and the Myrmidon hooligans show up and surround Hector. Achilles says some...
Act 5, Scene 10
A bunch of soldiers announce to the Greek leaders that Achilles has killed the Trojan Hector.Ajax says that Hector was a "good" man and that his death should be "bragless." (Read: Achilles and the...