Cressida

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For other uses, see Cressida (disambiguation).

Cressida is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman who falls in love with one of the sons of King Priam, Troilus. She pledges everlasting love, but when she is sent to the Greeks as part of a hostage exchange, she forms a liaison with the Greek warrior Diomedes. She has most often been depicted by writers as a paragon of female inconstancy. Chaucer's poem, however, portrayed a far more sympathetic Criseyde showing a self-conscious awareness of her literary status: "Alas, of me until the world's end shall be wrote no good song".

The story of Troilus and Cressida is a medieval invention and does not appear in any Greek legends. The best known versions are Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde, and William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida (c.1603).

The character of Cressida has also appeared in more modern drama. In the Doctor Who storyline Myth Makers (with William Hartnell as the Doctor), the TARDIS is captured by the Trojans with Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) still inside. Forced to emerge from the TARDIS, Vicki meets Priam, King of Troy. Considering the name 'Vicki' to be 'outlandish', Priam gives her the name of 'Cressida'. Later, Vicki/Cressida meets and becomes enamored with Priam's youngest son Troilus. After Troy falls (with the unwilling, but necessary help of the Doctor), Vicki stays behind to rebuild Troy with Troilus.