Parenting is a main element of “The Winters Tale”. Discuss the contrast between Leontes, Hermione, Polixenes, the shepherd and the clown as parents.

        In comparison the clown and shepherd are not the kind of parents that people see everyday. Neither of them is female so Perdita ends up having a substitute mother. Shakespeare does not make it clear which of the characters plays this role but it is clear that the combination of the two of them works well. Perdita, the child Leontes sent away, grows up with a group of poor shepherds’ and this has a good effect rather than a bad one. Shakespeare did, however, write that there was “Gold, all gold” in the basket with the child. This will have helped the Shepherd and clown come to a decision about what to do with it. Shakespeare could also have meant this as comedy. Two people find a basket with gold in it and decide to take the baby so no guilt is felt.  The fact that Perdita grows up in a stable environment is probably the reason that she turns out the way that she does it is an irony which Shakespeare writes well. Again it is intriguing the way he gives the best qualities to the lower class citizens. Their beliefs of her background are not entirely accurate. Shakespeare tells us that the shepherd and clown believed that the gold was “fairy gold” and the child was “a squire’s child”. This is a girl who has much decorum and is very dignified even though she has grown up with a group of shepherds and shepherdesses. She seems to have all the airs and graces which a princess would have but also has the humility of the shepherds group “the prettiest low born lass…smacks of something greater than herself, too noble for this place”. The shepherd and the clown show characteristics that are not present in all parents. They are loving from when they find the abandoned child. When the clown finds the child he immediately is concerned for its safety and where it has come from. There is no form of animosity or jealousy between these two parents as there is between Leontes and Hermione.

        Polixenes is another parent in the winter’s tale but one, which is not mentioned by Shakespeare very much. This may be because Shakespeare wishes to leave Polixenes as a watered down parallel between the two kings and to bring him forward would destroy the comedy that he brings. He has a child named Florizel who is, by the end of the play, in love with Perdita the girl who has been brought up by the clown and the shepherd. Polixenes however is also a bad parent. The very fact that he can’t recognise his own son at the old shepherd’s party. Florizel even tells his father that he is in love with Perdita, who at this point is thought to be a shepherdess. “More than ever a man’s, I would not prize them without her love”. Any other father would have been pleased for his son when he found this out but Polixenes seems to do the opposite. He is so angry with his son that he not only banishes him from his own home but also disowns him as a son “not hold thee of our blood, no, not our kin, far’r than Deucalion off”. This is the point where Polixenes completely disowns his son and tells him that he is no longer heir to the throne. There is a parallel here between the ways that the two kings in the play act. Shakespeare uses this as comedy. The difference between comedy and tragedy is this, in a comedy; a situation starts badly then gets better and finally finishes up with a happy ending. Whereas in a tragedy the situation gets worse and a sad ending occurs.  Earlier in the play Leontes disowns his daughter, Perdita, through jealousy, at a very young age. Again though not through jealousy Polixenes disowns his son through spite. This watered down version of the earlier happening is comedy to people in Shakespearean times as the situation begins to worsen but all ends up fine.

In conclusion I think that the change between tragedy and comedy is a confusing element of “the winter’s tale” However Shakespeare uses the parents in the play for both tragedy and comedy.  This use of parents is the main factor in “the winter’s tale”.  Leontes At the beginning of the play seems to be the villain.  However as the play progresses He switches from being a Jealous tyrant to becoming a respected father figure. Hermione, On the other hand, even though she is not a big part of the play is well respected throughout.  It is this respect which Shakespeare uses for all intents and purposes as comedy and tragedy.  Shakespeare’s use of the shepherd and the clown is ironical.  Shakespeare wrote both rich parents and poor parents, in the winter’s tale is the poor parents who seemed to be the better of the two sets.  I particularly like the way That Shakespeare uses many different types of parents to Portray Different styles of parenting.

        Leontes Switches from being a good King to being a jealous tyrant and back again to being a respected figure.  While Shakespeare was writing this play as a tragedy it suited the play to keep Leontes as a jealous tyrant However As it switched back to being a comedy Leontes needed to revert back to being respected figure that he was.  The same goes for Polixenes; he also did the same as Leontes But not to such a great extent.  His tyranny came after the play had switched to comedy.  The way that he banned his son from seeing his love would have been funny in Shakespearean times.  However once again we see a reformer in the parent.  He ‘comes around’ to the idea of his son marrying the shepherd’s ddaughter He rrealizes that she is actually a princess.  

        So Shakespeare really uses the parents for both comical and tragic purposes.  In my personal opinion on thing that this works best for comical purposes.  As for parents being the main constituents of “the winter’s tale” I disagree.  There are many influences on the story; Parenting is only one of them I believe Shakespeare used parents to assist him in telling the story.