The male-female divide is as old as history – and nowhere is this as evident as in the different reactions to the accusations
leveled by King Leontes against his wife. The women (
Hermione herself, Paulina and Emilia) are outraged at the injustice of it all; while the men mostly prefer to remain silent. In fact, they prefer to place loyalty before duty, for which they are derided by their wives. The gender gap is most in evidence when the issue of the newborn child (Perdita) is broached; the ladies wish the King to accept the child while the King will have none of it.
Though Shakespeare’s plays have traditionally been divided into comedies and tragedies, his concluding two plays (The Winter’s Tale; The Tempest) come closest – in spirit and conception – to fairy tales or fairy tale romances:
• The principal characters – Florizel (the youthful prince), Perdita (the innocent princess) and Hermione (the wronged queen) – are not just characters but archetypes.
• The storyteller plays with the emotions of the audience; sorrow follows happiness and happiness follows sorrow.
• There is a sense of timeliness to these tales. Though, superficially, the story is located in Sicily and Bohemia, the story could have taken place anytime and anyplace in recorded history.
• And, of course, there is the fairy-tale ending… whence all the principal actors are reconciled & live happily ever after!
• The storyline has elements of a “rags to riches” romance; with the Shepherd, his son (the Clown) and Perdita herself making good despite all odds.
Of course, the play would be incomplete without the character of Leontes. Leontes has variously been described as a madman so engrossed in his folly that it borders on lunacy. He will not heed the advice of his friends and well-wishers, and he will not listen to reason. However, as he is the King, his will prevails and Hermione is first imprisoned – and later brought to trial. Though the trial has some farcical elements in it, the seriousness of its outcome cannot be belied. Indeed, what the play really lacks is a truly comic role; the Clown is distinctly unfunny, and Autolycus (the rogue) attempts to fill the part, but is only partly successful.
Briefly, two devoted friends, Leontes (King of Sicily) and
Polixenes (King of Bohemia), become estranged when Polixenes is suspected – without any shard of evidence – of adultery with the wife of Leontes. Leontes refuses to accept his infant daughter (Perdita), who is subsequently exiled as he suspects that she is Polixenes’ child. Perdita is brought up by an old shepherd as his own daughter, and grows up to be a beautiful and graceful young lady. When Florizel (heir to Bohemia) sets his eyes upon her, he falls deeply in love with her and desires to marry her. But Polixenes does not accept this match, and Florizel is advised to leave for Sicily along with his bride…