The Winter's Tale Literary Elements

drama; romance

English

The play is set in Sicily and Bohemia in the winter and summer months, respectively.

There is no singular narrator in the play. However, the character of Time (personified as a winged creature with an hourglass) appears just before Act 4 to explain the play's sixteen-year time jump. Time acts as a type of Chorus, traditionally used to narrate and comment on the events of the play.

The play begins on a dark and doomed note when Leontes wrongly punishes Hermione for infidelity and subsequently loses his wife, daughter, and son. The play ends on a joyous note of reunion and redemption as Perdita returns to Sicily and Paulina reveals that Hermione is not really dead.

Perdita is one of many protagonists in the play. Leontes starts as the antagonist but becomes another protagonist by the play's conclusion.

The major conflict in The Winter's Tale begins with Leontes convincing himself that his wife, Hermione, has been unfaithful to him. He throws Hermione in prison and abandons his newborn daughter, Perdita, in Bohemia. Leontes eventually realizes his mistake but not before both his wife and son die.

The climax of The Winter's Tale occurs at the end of Act Three, when Mamillius dies and Perdita is abandoned as an infant in Bohemia. At the beginning of Act Four, Time appears to announce a sixteen-year flash forward, where audiences learn that Perdita is alive and well.

When Archidamus remarks at the beginning of the play that he does not perceive anything will ever come between Leontes and Polixenes, his comment foreshadows the conflict that arises just moments later when Leontes decides that Polixenes has seduced Hermione.

In one of the most famous stage directions in the history of theater, the phrase "Exit, pursued by a bear" appears in the original script of The Winter's Tale. This stage direction is itself a form of understatement, as the implication is that Antigonus dies a gruesome death.

The play features a number of allusions to Ancient Greek and Roman mythology, which was common for English Renaissance plays. It also alludes to Christian narratives like Judas's betrayal of Christ and the resurrection of Christ after the crucifixion. Finally, the play is based on a prose romance entitled Pandosto by English writer Robert Greene, and contains numerous allusions to Greene's work.

Important imagery in the play includes poison and disease, likeness, Hermione's statue, youth and age, weather, and the seasons.

The central paradox of the play is that Hermione proves her loyalty to Leontes by convincing Polixenes to stay in Sicily, which prompts Leontes to accuse Hermione and Polixenes of infidelity and disloyalty.

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The play personifies Time as a winged creature who carries an hourglass in the beginning of Act Four. Time introduces the second half of the play, announcing that sixteen years has passed since Perdita was abandoned in Bohemia.

The Winter's Tale is unique among Shakespeare's plays because of its sixteen-year time jump between Acts Three and Four. In general, English Renaissance plays steered away from flashbacks and flashforwards because they theoretically interrupted the unity of a play's narrative. The Winter's Tale, by contrast, is a mixture of the tragic and comic genres and presents a relatively flexible timeline to accomplish this blend.