The Winter's Tale

"They looked as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed . . . "

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David M. Bergeron's article "Come Hell or High Water: Shakespearean Romantic Comedy," found in

Maurice Charney, Shakespearean Comedy (New York, 1980), pp. 111-20 [RES: PR 2981 .S49].

There are two electronic versions of the play: one from Australia and one that is part of the Shakespeare Showcase, each with an overview page giving a shortlist of all the play's settings.

You may also find helpful this synopsis, commentary on sources, and notes on staging .

(1) Compare Leontes' irrational jealousy with that of Othello. How is it similar in its development and in the way he manifests it? How is it different in its effects?

(2) Where is the country of Bohemia actually located? (Check a map in the library.)

(3) Look up the French words "perdre," which is a cognate of Perdita's name. What does the French meaning suggest about Perdita's function in the play?

(4) What is the meaning of the play's title? (See II.i.25 and V.iii.117.)

(5) In what respects do the plot and characterization in this story remind you of a typical fairy tale?

(6) Explore the imagery of disease in the play. How pervasive is it? Is there any symbolic significance to the death of Mamillius at the point when it occurs in Act III, Scene ii?

(7) How does Shakespeare once again make use of two contrasting settings in this play?

(8) What are the similarities and differences between the shepherds in this play, especially the comic characters Autolycus and the Clown, and the rustics in As You Like It?

(9) What "miraculous" events occur in this play?

(10) What various "trial" scenes occur in this play? In what respects can they be compared?

(11) Is nature malignant or beneficent in this play, or both?

(12) Reread carefully Perdita's conversation with Polixenes about gardening (Iv.iv.75-108). What does their discussion indicate about the theme of the relationship between art and nature in the play? Does the "miraculous" in this play seem "artificial"? Would it be accurate to characterize nature's role in the play, in Perdita's words, as "great creating nature" (line 88)?

(13) What is the double meaning in Leontes' comment that he will make penance for his jealousy by visiting the graves and shedding tears as his "recreation"? What other kinds of "recreation" take place in the play? What does "recreation" have to do with the world of nature or "creation"?

(14) When the shepherd finds the baby in Act III, Scene iii, he says, "thou mettest with things dying [referring to Antigonus and the mariners], I with things new-born." How many instances of imagery concerning death and resurrection can you find in the play? In what way[s] is death and rebirth a theme in the play as a whole?

(15) Consider the significance of Act IV, Scene iv. In what respects does Autolycus' role in the end of this scene parallel Camillo's role as a "deliverer" in the first part of the scene? Also, is there any dramatic purpose in Shakespeare's deliberately introducing the theme of illusion/reality in Autolycus' conversation with the Shepherd and Clown, especially in light of what occurs in Act V?

(16) Why are we merely told about the king's reunion with his long-lost daughter, instead of being allowed to see it?

(17) What is the significance of Paulina's saying in the final "revelation" scene that Leontes must "awake your faith" (V.iii.95) in order to restore Hermione to life?

(18) Why is it appropriate that the final revelation of Hermione should take place to music?

(19) What has Leontes done to deserve the revelation and forgiveness that come to him in Act V? Has he become truly penitent? What do we learn about his altered state of mind and heart through his conversation with Paulina in Act V, Scene i?

(20) In what ways does this play differ from the more "realistic" comedies that we read early in the course? What similarities does it have with the pastoral comedy As You Like It?

(21) A traditional element in pastoral is social criticism. What abuses are criticized, especially, in the conversations between Autolycus and the Clown?

(22) In comparison to Othello, Measure for Measure, and King Lear, and kind[s] of justice operate in this play? Are these operations more typical of those in a comedy (such as As You Like It or Merry Wives of Windsor, for instance) than in these tragedies?

(23) In what ways is The Winter's Tale, like Measure for Measure, a tragicomedy? What characters in this play have "emblematic" or roughly allegorical roles in the play? What in the play suggests this interpretation for their actions?

(24) What elements in the play classify it as a typical "romance"?

(25) How do the words of the First Gentleman in Act V, Scene i, beginning, "they looked as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed" reflect on the entire play and indeed on the structure of romance itself?

(26) The title of Shakespeare's primary source for this play is Pandosto, or the Triumph of Time. Do you see any relationship between this title and the themes of Shakespeare's play--and to romance in general?

Here are more study questions from Schools Online and Prof. Massey.

The library has a number of articles on various aspects of the play:

Roy Battenhouse. "Theme and Structure in The Winter's Tale," Shakespeare Survey, 33 (1980), 123-38 [Ref: PR 2888 .C3].

A. F. Ballette, "Truth and Utterance in The Winter's Tale," Shakespeare Survey, 31 (1978), 65-75 [Ref: PR 2888 .C3].

C. L. Barber, "Transformation in Pericles and The Win ter's Tale," Shakespeare Survey, 22 (1969), 50-68 [Ref: PR 2888 .C3].

David M. Bergeron, "Come Hell or High Water: Shakespearean Romantic Comedy," in Shakespearean Comedy, ed. Maurice Char ney, pp. 111-21 ([RES: PR 2981 .S49] .

Nevill Coghill, "Six Points of Stage-Craft in The Winter's Tale," Shakespeare Survey, 11 (1958), 31-41 [Ref: PR 2888 .C3].

Merritt Lawlis, ed., Elizabethan Prose Fiction (New York, Odyssey Press, 1967 [PR 1293 .L3] [includes the primary source for The Winter's Tale, Pandosto]

G. Wilson Knight, "'Great Creating Nature': An Essay on The Winter's Tale," in Shakespeare: Modern Essays, ed. by Dean, pp. 378-410 [RES: PR 2976 .D4].

G. Wilson Knight, "Myth and Miracle," in His Infinite Variety, ed. Siegel, pp. 381-96 [PR 2976 .S45], and in Shakespeare: Modern Essays, ed. by Dean [RES: PR 2976 .D4].

Derek Traversi, "The Winter's Tale," in Shakespeare: The Comedies, ed. Kenneth Muir, pp. 152-63 [RES: Personal Copy].

David Young, "The Argument of Time: The Winter's Tale," in his The Heart's Forest [PR 2976 .Y6]. 1967 [PR 1293 .L3] [includes the primary source for The Winter's Tale]

The Connotations series on "Competing Discourses in The Winter's Tale."

"Browning's Pygmalion and the Revenge of Galatea" by Catherine Maxwell

ELH 60.4 (1993) 989-1013. Includes a section on WT showing the "forward" influence of Shakespeare's play on Browning.

Maryland Stage Company (picture of the final scene)

MIT Drama Workshop Cover (emphasis on the theme of time)

Compare this late play to Comedy of Errors--what elements of comedy, particularly in its definition in relation to plot, do they share? Can you contrast these two plays in terms of Shakespeare's artistic ability?

Compare this romance to the tragedy of Lear or Othello. Are there similar circumstances in the plot? Similar themes? How does the treatment of these similarities differ in the tragedy vs. the romance? What accounts for the differences?