Thersites

Family: Greeks · Role: slave · First appears: Troilus and Cressida · Act I, Scene III

Life events

• Ajax strikes Thersites during their quarrel.(Troilus and Cressida · Act II, Scene I)
  • With: Ajax
  • “AJAX. You cur! [Strikes him.]”
• Thersites exits, declaring he will leave the faction of fools.(Troilus and Cressida · Act II, Scene I)
  • “I will see you hang’d like clotpoles ere I come any more to your tents. I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of fools. [Exit.]”
• Achilles sends Thersites to arrange Hector’s unarmed visit to his tent.(Troilus and Cressida · Act III, Scene III)
  • With: Achilles Hector
  • “Thou must be my ambassador to him, Thersites. THERSITES. Who, I? Why, he’ll answer nobody; he professes not answering. Speaking is for beggars: he wears his tongue in’s arms. I will put on his presence. Let Patroclus make his demands to me, you shall see the pageant of Ajax. ACHILLES. To him, Patroclus. Tell him I humbly desire the valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous Hector to come unarm’d to my tent; and to procure safe conduct for his person of the magnanimous and most illustrious six-or-seven-times-honour’d Captain General of the Grecian army, Agamemnon. Do this.”

Troilus and Cressida · Act I, Scene III

• sworn: Ajax “Ajax is grown self-will’d and bears his head / In such a rein, in full as proud a place / As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him; / Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war / Bold as an oracle, and sets Thersites, / A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint,”
• liege: Ajax “Ajax is grown self-will’d and bears his head / In such a rein, in full as proud a place / As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him; / Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war / Bold as an oracle, and sets Thersites, / A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint,”

Troilus and Cressida · Act II, Scene I

• with Ajax (Ajax has Thersites under forced service.) “Ajax was here the voluntary, and you as under an impress.”

Troilus and Cressida · Act II, Scene III

• liege: Achilles “Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool; and this Patroclus is a fool positive.”

Troilus and Cressida · Act III, Scene III

• liege: Achilles “Thou must be my ambassador to him, Thersites.”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of Shakespeare's Tragedies. Made with Rho MD.