Ulysses: The Smartest Man in a Failing Cause
First appears: Act 1, Scene 3
Ulysses is the Greek camp's political strategist: the one who understands why they are losing and has a plan to fix it. His speech on 'degree' (the argument that social hierarchy is essential to order, and that removing it causes chaos) is one of the most cited passages in Shakespeare.
His plan to use Ajax as a proxy to provoke Achilles back into fighting is ingenious. It mostly fails. He is the smartest person in a war that intelligence cannot resolve.
His speech to Troilus about time ('Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion') is one of the play's genuine moments of beauty, arriving in a conversation where he is partly manipulating Troilus.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows!”
Ulysses — Act 1, Scene 3
“Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,”
Ulysses — Act 3, Scene 3
Themes
Other Characters in Troilus and Cressida
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