How does Shakespeare present the role of women in the play "The Winter's Tale"
How does Shakespeare present the role of women in the play "The Winter's Tale"?
Shakespeare presents women in the play in a number of guises, most of these promote
women as the superior sex. For example he presents Hermione as essentially the
heroine of the play. In the court she stands up to the mad tyrant that is Leontes in the
face of almost certain death. She doesn't lose dignity in her defence and is willing to die
to make sure her love can show him the error of his ways. Leontes is a man teetering on
the edge, she says to him, "Sir, spare your threats," she shows herself a hero as she faces
the king in a court that would certainly be biased and she doesn't lose her dignity at all.
She is the only person to stand up the king, none of the lords make a stand as he is
clearly mad and Camillo cowardly runs away. She is willing to become a martyr to her
cause, she may have lost her son and daughter because of Leontes but she chooses to
face him which shows her to be the bravest of the play.
He also portrays women as persuasive and somewhat manipulative in the person of
Paulina, who exerts huge control over Leontes as she gets him to swear, "never to
marry until my free leave," she controls him enough that he allows her to choose a
women for his wife. What's more impressive is that Paulina was just Hermione's lady
in waiting and she now controls the king of Sicily. Hermione at the start of the play
manages to persuade Polixines to stay, the ill fated event that led to Leontes jealous
spiral. All she says is, "You shall not go," and Polixines is swayed.
Not only does Shakespeare present women as heroic and manipulative, he portrays
them as clever, the best example is of Paulina again, who comes up with a bold and
daring plan to use Hermione's newborn baby to sway Leontes, this is quite clever of
Paulina, but it does fail, she also comes up with the plan of faking Hermione death.
Paulina is the puppet master of the play, many of the situations of the play are her
influence and interference.
Women are presented as figureheads, Hermione is the figurehead of Sicily with many
parallels to Elizabeth I, Hermione ...
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them as clever, the best example is of Paulina again, who comes up with a bold and
daring plan to use Hermione's newborn baby to sway Leontes, this is quite clever of
Paulina, but it does fail, she also comes up with the plan of faking Hermione death.
Paulina is the puppet master of the play, many of the situations of the play are her
influence and interference.
Women are presented as figureheads, Hermione is the figurehead of Sicily with many
parallels to Elizabeth I, Hermione is much loved and respected throughout the
kingdom, she is also the daughter of a King of Russia. There is also Perdita, she is the
one chosen to be the "queen" of the feast, and Shakespeare consistently chooses women
to be the representatives of the situations that occur in the play.
Shakespeare presents the women in an another way, as symbols; for example there is
Perdita who represents rejuvenation and spring. With the introduction of Perdita
changes begin to happen, the unity of the heirs of Bohemia and Sicily. She brings
Hermione back to life. She brings a new lease of life to both kingdoms, which unites
Leontes and Polixines together. She fulfils the oracle and rejuvenates a desolate
Leontes. Hermione represents love and caring, mother nature. She carries on loving
Leontes even though he actually killed both her children. She says at the trial, "My life
stands in the level of your dreams," she loves him enough to let him kill her. She
doesn't blame him for the deaths of her children, and she still cares for him, she feels
sorry for him.
Shakespeare presents women with key roles in the play, for example Paulina was
added to play as it was copied, and her role is quite significant in key events, such as the
court case, the hiding of Hermione. She also controls the king which means she
essentially controls the country. Hermione's role is key, she played a hero's last stand
during the trial where she became a martyr. She is a figurehead of the novel. The
heroine of the play for the strength and bravery she has shown. Perdita's role is also key
in the play, a number of events would have not occurred without her being there such as
the uniting of the two kingdoms again.
Shakespeare presents the role of women as contrasting with that of men, the role that
women play are the heroes of the play, such as Hermione's last stand against Leontes,
while Camillo has run off and taken a cowards way out to avoid death unlike Hermione.
Men are portrayed as cowards and jealous tyrants, like Leontes' jealousy that came
from no where, it has no logical reasoning whereas Perdita is perceived as having a lot
of common sense, and it's this trait that stops her from being one dimensional.
Polixines also portrays this illogical madness, for example the party where Perdita is
host and he finds out his son's intentions to wed a commoner, he looses control. He
says, "I'll have that beauty scratched with briers," Shakespeare is making out that men
do things that make no sense while women think things through in their head. He
believes women are better leaders.
Another contrast is that men are perceived as less intelligent; the shepherd and his
family believe in fairies. There is the very dishonourable Autolycus, and when you
compare all these male characters with the female ones are outclassed by superior
females.
Shakespeare portrays the role of women as being emotionally mature in comparison to
the male leads of the play. For example Hermione's stand on the trial she showed
herself to be a dignified women who commands respect, she didn't resort to begging.
The same goes for Paulina who keeps her composure when talking about her dead
husband Antigonus, whereas Leontes breaks down after the trial and cannot contain
himself. The way he deals with his jealous urges shows how emotionally immature he
is, and cannot deal with it reasonably by confrontation.
There is huge contrast of the roles of women in the play compared to that of women in
actual Stuart life, he gives women significantly more freedom and independence that
they would have in real life at that time. Look at characters such as Paulina, she controls
the king. There is strong women in the play which immediately refers to Elizabeth I. In
real life women had minor roles, they had no rights, they were not allowed their own
property and men could rape them without fear of any consequences. Women were
second class citizens and the contrast here is incredible, a heroic queen who goes up
against the king and a lady in waiting who can manipulate the king to her pleasing and
her moral views.
Shakespeare shows the role of women in the play as blame and pity figures, Hermione
is accused of adultery and then of carrying a bastard child, Paulina loses Antigonus, she
says, "As my Antigonus to break his grave," Paulina makes Leontes suffer along with
herself at the loss of a spouse. Hermione looses two children, and Perdita is persecuted
by Polixines for bewitching his son. Throughout the play women are hurt by men
blindly and purposefully. This is reflective on real life then for men could just accuse
their wife of something they didn't do like Leontes in the trial and beat them, there is
message here then that Shakespeare thinks all chauvinistic men of his day are mad.
The role of women in the play is also a message, it is very pro women so it's a
memorial to Elizabeth, the first female monarch, which means it's also very anti King
James as it portrays the male kings as not as strong as women, it is comparing James to
Elizabeth. It is an attack on the new monarchy which it appears Shakespeare dislikes. It
shows women as political players which were unheard of in that time, Shakespeare is
promoting women's rights which was very unusual in a time of female suppression, he
expresses his view that women are equal to men, and in some ways superior. The men
in the play are portrayed as people who don't think with their heads, and act as jealous
tyrants, expressing that maybe James is jealous of Elizabeth's success. I also think that
all the women in the play represent quality of Elizabeth's, Paulina's cunningness and
intelligence, Hermione's bravery.
In conclusion the role of women in "The Winter's Tale" is an important part of
the book as it expresses some key ideas of Shakespeare's and the period. The role of
women is however shown to be more important than that of males throughout the king
and they outclass kings in their superiority. The play is however a political statement.