The Winter's Tale (Pelican Shakespeare S.) - Softcover

Maxwell, Baldwin; Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140714049 ISBN 13: 9780140714043

Publisher: Penguin, 1980

Synopsis

The Winter's Tale is Shakespeare's most perfectly realized tragi-comedy, as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and, throughout, for the richness and complexity of its poetry. It concludes, moreover, with the most daring and moving reconciliation scene in all Shakespeare's plays.

About this title

Review:

One of Shakespeare's most haunting and enigmatic late plays, The Winter's Tale is a fine example of Shakespeare's fascination with the dramatic genre of "romance": the portrayal of magical lands, familial conflict and exile, and final reunion and reconciliation. Drawing on Robert Green's story Pandosto, Shakespeare play tells the story of the middle-aged Leontes, king of Sicilia, and his childhood friend Polixenes, the king of Bohemia. Leontes mistakenly believes that his friend is having an affair with his wife, Hermione. In his jealousy, and consumed by "tremor cordis", he tries to murder Polixenes, who flees, and accuses his wife of adultery. Hermione gives birth to a baby girl, Perdita, who Leontes denounces as illegitimate, and casts her out into the wilderness. Hermione is ultimately proved innocent, but her son, Mamillius, dies of grief. Hermione collapses, apparently dead, and Leontes is left to pick up the tragic consequences of his actions. Time passes, and the action moves to Bohemia, where the lost child Perdita has grown up a shepherdess in the midst of "great creating nature". The final scenes of the play draw towards resolution and reconciliation between Leontes, Hermione and their lost daughter, culminating in one of Shakespeare's most moving final scenes. One of Shakespeare's most consummate plays, The Winter's Tale is a fascinating study of male insecurity and the relations between art and nature. --Jerry Brotton.

Review:

'Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.'
--Sardines Magazine (Autumn 2010)

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1980
• ISBN 10: 0140714049
• ISBN 13: 9780140714043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 140