So, I read Acts II-III of The Winter's Tale, and I'm still not impressed by the character of Leontes. All the other characters have interesting nuances to them-Hermione and her impassioned pleas of innocence, Paulina and her defying of gender stereotypes, and Antigonus and his aversion to the king's madness coupled with his fear of disobediance. Leontes' turnaround was also too shallow for me to believe easily. Maybe I'm just too cynical about this play after discussing Hamlet, but these characters seem too openly didactic for me. There's something to learn from each of Shakespeare's plays, but this one seems intent on putting that message into the open.
Another thing...where is the comedy? I haven't seen any yet...unless you count Antigonus being chased and eaten by the bear, and then being discovered by Clown. (Admittedly, I did find exit, pursued by a bear to be funny, as well as the part where Clown finds Antigonus, learns his name, and then leaves him to get mauled by the bear, only to go back and loot/bury the body later. Maybe that says more about me than the play though). Maybe the next two acts will be more revealing about this, or maybe there is just a different definition of comedy just as there is for romance. Does anyone know about this?
I read Dante's "Inferno" and "Purgatorio" once upon a time, and as I did I thought it very interesting that they were part of the "Divine Comedy". There is little comedic value in the Inferno. I think I remember reading in the footnotes that a comedy is just a story that ends on a happy, uplifting note.
ReplyDeleteI think comedies can be labeled for like what Mason said, just ending on a happy uplifting note, but Shakespeare does have a few (Midsummer Night's Dream) where there is comedy throughout. When I have google define the word comedy, both off the top definitions involve making people laugh. I am waiting for the laugh part in this play.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, a comedy in these terms does not necessarily imply something funny, though that is certainly true sometimes. Wikipedia says, "Comedy", in its Elizabethan usage, had a very different meaning from modern comedy. A Shakespearean comedy is one that has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's other plays. Humor is not an essential element. However, in spite of all these things, I remember reading that The Winter's Tale was actually neither comedy nor tragedy, so perhaps any normal definition of a category is not applicable.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting note from the Wikipedia article "Shakespearean Comedy" is listed as a general attribute of Shakespeare's comedies: A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it laughable). Again, I don't think that The Winter's Tale completely counts as a comedy, but I think that this attribute is present here, especially when compared against, say, Hamlet.
ReplyDeleteHah. I found the comedy-it's in Act IV. There are some serious elements too, like when Polixenes threatens his son, but overall the theme of the act is more lighthearted. I like this discussion on comedy, and I'm thinking that Shakespeare might have started the transition towards humor as oppsed to earlier comedies like the Inferno which were more serious. The character of Autolycus is a great example of humor in this play, and his character is one that Shakespeare uses several times (mischievious, but ultimately good-hearted).
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