Editing Cressida (section)

===Contemporary criticism===
''Troilus and Cressida'' has little performance history prior to the 20th century.  Cressida's character is as isolated from framing as the rest of the story—we never know how her life ends, there is no "ever after" for her, and even her beginning is mysterious to us. She appears a witty young girl, only to become a serious, thoughtful, and thought-provoking woman in moments of reflection. Carol Rutter explores the reasons why Cressida is so fascinating. She writes "[...] the challenge Shakespeare constructs for this play is to put before us a Cressida, who, like the fair (but dark) lady of the sonnets is, in Eve Sedgwick's memorable term, 'oxymoron militant', a genuine contradiction."<ref>Chillington Rutter, Carol. ''Enter the Body''. Routledge. Great Britain, 2001. p. 116.</ref>

Rutter has much to say on Cressida's self-awareness. Firstly, that Cressida is unique, that she "is something entirely, radically new, the woman who behaves like a man, who betrays the man," secondly, that, "two voices seem to be speaking [...] Where has Cressida learnt this 'instruction'? [...] the speech is neurotic, pragmatic, anti-romantic – yet its form is a sonnet [...] it discloses strategic schizophrenia [...] by this agenda, to win at love, a woman must play false, act double. She must separate instinct from sexual performance [...]".<ref>Chillington Rutter, Carol. ''Enter the Body''. Routledge. Great Britain, 2001. pp. 124–5.</ref>

[[Juliet Stevenson]] commented in Rutter's book ''Clamorous Voices'' that such roles inspire an actor to "react against the way tradition and prejudice have stigmatised them – Cressida the whore [...] every time they're judged you feel protective. Perhaps too protective. So you might end up playing a Cressida who is above reproach."<ref>Rutter, Carol. ''Clamorous Voices Shakespeare's Women Today''. The Women's Press Limited. London, 1988. p. xviii.</ref>

The main question as regards Shakespeare's Cressida is centralised around whether she is simply a "whore", or if she is more complex, and worth further attention due to her obvious intelligence and duality.