Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale challenges the conventional fine line between tragedy and comedy, death and rebirth through romance, in that it presents an interesting mix. The first Act of the play presents an Othelloesque conflict as King Leontes irrationally fears that his wife, Hermione, has been pursuing an affair with King Polixenes of Bohemia. Against the advice of Antigonus and Camillo, his trustworthy servants, Leontes is quick to anger as he requests that Hermione be imprisoned; this scene is similar to King Lear’s rashness when exiling Cordelia against the wise advice of Kent, his loyal sidekick. Emotion and injured pride reign over better judgment and common sense. Echoing the tragic ending of King Lear, the resolution of Acts 1 and 2 end in the sudden, unexplained deaths of Hermione, their son Mamillius, and Antigonus. Aside from the very fitting roles and characteristics shared between Leontes from The Winter’s Tale and Lear from King Lear, Leontes even resonates a Lear-like sentiment when he says:
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible
Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.
This emphasis on the word “nothing” not only reminds the reader of Lear’s famous “nothing will come of nothing,” but also ironically foreshadows the fact that Leontes will be left with nothing as he loses his wife, his son, and his newborn daughter to his own pride. In addition, just as King Lear confuses the “nothingness” on Cordelia’s last dying breath for something, upon viewing a statue of Hermione, Leontes swears that: “Still, me thinks, / There is an air comes from her: what fine chisel / Could ever yet cut breath?” Even when there is truly nothing, Lear and Leontes mistakenly see something, a breath vanishing into thin air. The parallelism between King Lear and King Leontes in both their tendencies such as the quickness to judge and the theme of “nothing” invites questions regarding the relevancy of such a similarity.
Furthermore, the star-crossed love between King Leontes’ daughter Perdita and King Polixenes’ son Florizel is forbidden in that it is a love between a shepherd’s daughter and the Prince of Bohemia; dramatic irony unfolds so that the love between the heirs of Sicily and Bohemia seems to call back to the love between Romeo and Juliet. However, instead of the feuding families causing the death of two young lovers, Leontes and Polixenes are overjoyed that their children are wedding into royalty when Perdita’s true identity is revealed. Rather than splitting the two families further apart as Romeo and Juliet do to the Capulets and the Montagues, the bond between Florizel and Perdita serves to unite Leontes and Polixenes after their long separation and estrangement. Additionally, although Leontes’ son Mamillius remains the singular tragic death, the sole example of poetic injustice, both Hermione and Perdita return to Leontes’ life, reversing the sense of gloom that has befallen the first half of the play. Furthermore, Florizel and Perdita are scheduled to be married, adding a romantic aspect to the happy ending.
Written after both Romeo and Juliet and King Lear, The Winter’s Tale acts as a spin-off as it incorporates the star-crossed lovers and the ill-fated King whose jealousy causes the death of all his loved ones. However, in contrast to the ironic and tragic endings of Romeo and Juliet and King Lear, The Winter’s Tale is full of life and the promise of renewal through marriage at the end (including Hermione’s strange revival as a statue.) This conscious happy ending celebrates the triumph of romance and rebirth over unfortunate death.
Aside from the interesting plotline choices Shakespeare makes, the character of Autolycus deserves a second glance other than a background role. Unlike King Lear’s fool who speaks his truths in riddles, Autolycus is a knave, a liar, who impersonates a courtier in order to play a part in the Shepherd and Clown’s master plan. Autolycus is an ambiguous character who disappears and reappears randomly throughout the play, singing his songs and praising his own ability to pickpocket stealthily. However, when he intervenes in the Shepherd and Clown’s schemes, he declares:
“Let me have no / lying” and
Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier. Seest
thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings?
hath not my gait in it the measure of the court?
receives not thy nose court-odor from me? reflect I
not on thy baseness court-contempt?”
Ironically, although he is dressed in Prince Florizel’s garments, his non-courtliness is detectable as he does not wear them as a gentleman would. The theme of class and breeding is also embodied by Perdita, a princess by blood who is raised by the Shepherd. She is continuously praised for a beauty and an air that seems greater than her upbringing, naturally attracting others to her. This mysterious dichotomy between blood privilege and upbringing is juxtaposed between Autolycus who fails to embody a courtier and Perdita who ultimately regains her right as an heir. This inevitable unveiling of her true birth serves as a social commentary on the inherent difference between someone born to the throne and someone born as a common villager.
The comparison between The Winter’s Tale and Shakespeare’s previous works as well as the ramifications of comparing Autolycus and Perdita provoke many questions regarding Shakespeare’s literary choices. What does this emphasis on revival mean? Why did Shakespeare choose to reverse the unfortunate tragedies that occur earlier in the play? Does this drastic mixture of tragedy and romance entice the audience? What were your thoughts on the play’s strange dichotomy between tragedy and happiness?
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