The Uses of Anachronism in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida

Abstract

William Shakespeare is one of the greatest anachronists. Together with all the historical inaccuracies for the sake of dramatic effect, he also uses intentional, unintentional, and “necessary” anachronisms in his plays. While writing his version of the “Homeric” tale of the Trojan War, Shakespeare brings together the controversies of the rampantly changing early modern world from a feudal to a capitalist one in Troilus and Cressida. In a tale stemming from the antiquity and transformed, even reproduced during the medieval age through the romance tradition, Shakespeare juxtaposes the “old” and the “new” in his handling of the medieval/feudal Trojans and early modern/capitalist Greeks. The “chivalric” medieval age finds its representation especially in Trojan Hector and the “modern” in Greek Ulysses. This paper examines the ways in which the past and the present are correlated in Troilus and Cressida and the “chronos” is transformed into “kairos” with the juxtaposition of contemporary ideologies in a seemingly Homeric world.

Keywords

• Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida,anachronism,kairos

The Uses of Anachronism in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida

Abstract

William Shakespeare en önemli anakronistlerdendir. Oyunlarında, dramatik amaçlı yaptığı tarihsel yanlışlıkların yanı sıra bilinçli, bilinçsiz ve “gerekli” kronik hatalar görülmektedir. Troilus ve Cressida oyununda Shakespeare, Truva savaşının kendi Homerik hikayesini yazarken de hızla feodalden kapitaliste dönüşen erken modern çağın tartışmalarını bir araya getirmektedir. Antik çağa ait olan ve orta çağ boyunca romans geleneği ile değişen hatta yeniden yazılan hikayede Shakespeare “eski” ve “yeni”yi orta çağa ait/feudal Truvalılar ve erken modern çağa ait/kapitalist Yunanlıların temsilleriyle yan yana sunmaktadır. Oyunda orta çağın “şövalyelik” özelliği Truvalı Hector’da, “modern”e ait özellikler de Yunan Ulysses üzerinden temsil edilmektedir. Bu makalede Troilus ve Cressida oyununda geçmiş ve şimdiki zamanın nasıl yoğrulduğu ve çağdaş ideolojilerin güya Homerik bir dünyada bir araya getirilmesiyle “kronos”un nasıl “kairos”a dönüştüğünü incelenmektedir.

Keywords

• Shakespeare,Troilus ve Cressida,anakronizm

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