The first three acts of The Winter’s Tale are a study of
jealousy and its destructive effects. In the play, Leontes’s sudden and
unfounded fear that his pregnant wife is sleeping with his best friend eats
away at him like a disease. Leontes’s wild jealousy is often compared to that
of Othello. Both men unfairly suspect their wives of
infidelity and their violent responses destroy their families and upset the
political balance. The differences, however, are significant. Unlike Othello,
Leontes convinces himself of his wife’s “affair” all by himself – there’s no
Iago figure whispering in his ear and goading him along. (If anything, Leontes
is his own Iago.) More importantly, Leontes’s abuse of his family is not
entirely permanent, unlike Othello’s. After repenting and suffering for sixteen
long years, Leontes is reunited with his wife and long-lost daughter, which
puts a redemptive spin on The Winter’s Tale, whereas Othello is
just plain tragic.
Like many of Shakespeare’s plays (Two Gentleman of Verona and The
Merchant of Venice, especially) and The Sonnets, The Winter’s
Tale examines the nature of male friendship. Bromance was a pretty big deal
in the Renaissance and was valued above marriage and other male-female
relationships. In the play, the friendship between Leontes and Polixenes is
portrayed as an ideal bond that developed during the innocence of childhood and
was interrupted by their adolescent interest in women and sex. As adults,
Leontes’s friendship with Polixenes is characterized by rivalry and Leontes’s
jealous fears that his wife has come between them. There are examples of female
friendship in the play (most notably, Paulina’s fierce loyalty to Hermione),
but bromance is given much more attention.
The Winter’s Tale dramatizes a divide between the younger
generation and their parents. The older generation (Leontes and Polixenes) is
responsible for the loss of innocence, the disunion of families and friends,
and immense suffering and heartache. When the younger generation (Perdita and
Florizel) comes of age, their youthful love has the effect of restoring
families and reigniting hope for the future. Yet, not all of the “sins of the
fathers” can be redeemed by the younger generation. The permanent deaths of
young Mammilius and old Antigonus remind us that some things are lost forever
and cannot be resurrected. Because children are portrayed as “copies” or
replicas of their parents, Shakespeare also leaves us with a sense that the
younger generation could grow up to repeat their parents’ mistakes.
Leontes’s hateful ideas about women dominate the first three acts of The
Winter’s Tale. After he convinces himself that his pregnant wife is having
an affair and carrying another man’s child, Leontes reveals a crude and
misogynistic attitude that seems to have been lurking beneath the surface all
along. In the jealous king’s mind, all women are sexually promiscuous
and dishonest (an attitude that’s all too common in Renaissance literature).
Leontes also gives voice to the notion that women who are not silent and
obedient to their husbands are monsters who invert socially accepted gender
hierarchies. Leontes eventually repents but his nasty attitude leaves a big
mark on the play.
The Winter’s Tale participates in the ages old art vs. nature
controversy. At the heart of the debate is the following question: Is
artfulness (the creation of paintings, sculptures, plays, songs, etc. to
represent the natural world) a good thing? Or does artfulness distort nature?
Shakespeare also extends the debate to consider artifice in general, which has
some pretty major implications in a play that takes a very self-conscious look
at its status as a work of art
The Winter’s Tale is obsessed with time. The play goes out of
its way to draw our attention to 1) time’s passage, 2) the way time can often
appear to stand still, and 3) how some events can trigger memories that seem to
transport us back in time. The only Shakespeare play to span across sixteen
years, The Winter’s Tale defies the classical unities (of time, place,
and action), an old set of literary rules that said the action in all plays
should take place within a 24-hour time span.
In the play, Leontes’s jealousy gives way to tyrannous behavior that
causes immense pain suffering. Mammilius falls ill and dies when his mother is
imprisoned and tried for adultery, Hermione is said to have died of a broken
heart, and Leontes tortures himself for sixteen long years. In fact, the entire
kingdom is made miserable by Leontes’s behavior, which has left Sicily without
an heir. This kind of anguish is inherent in Shakespearean tragedy, but because
the play is a blend of tragedy and comedy, the suffering in the play ultimately
gives way to redemption, which we discuss in “Compassion and Forgiveness.”
While the first three acts of The Winter’s Tale are marked by
the pain and suffering caused by Leontes’s jealousy, the latter half of the
play is all about compassion, forgiveness, and redemption. Perdita’s true
identity is restored, the princess is reunited with her father and mother (who
is seemingly “resurrected” from the dead), and Paulina gets engaged to Camillo.
The play’s joyous ending not only restores domestic and political order, but it
offers an optimistic view of humanity.
Very good themes
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