The relationships between Paulina and Antigonus and between Paulina and Leontes are useful to examine because of the character of Paulina. In the character of Paulina, Shakespeare creates a female antagonist who is able to challenge the traditional roles of wife, widow and of women in general. Paulina speaks in an aggressive and challenging tone to Leontes despite his authority, likewise with Antigonus she speaks in a tone, which would not have been considered feminine in Shakespeare’s time. A modern audience would approve of this type of character, considering her as somewhat of a champion of the oppressed. Modern critics may look at the character of Paulina as a reflection of Queen Elizabeth, though this would not take into account why exactly Paulina is silenced at the end of the play, and also Queen Elizabeth’s power was ascribed not attained. Elizabeth ruled in a patriarchy and was not an early feminist as some may suggest:
“I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too.”
This helps to provide important context to the play, explaining why the female characters act as they do and the apparent contradiction in Paulina’s character even though many word suggest that Shakespeare was alluding to Queen Elizabeth. Paulina becomes effectively the only character who effectively challenges male authority.
The relationship between Perdita and Florizel could be said to challenge traditional roles in some respect – Florizel is willing to marry somebody from a seemingly lower background and give up his divine right to the throne as a result. Modern audiences would approve of this type of relationship not because it appears to challenge authority, which a Shakespearean audience may disapprove of, but because it is presented as the most equal relationship. This relationship is presented as a little naive and idealistic, which is perhaps why Shakespeare decides to end the play with Perdita transformed into the submissive daughter and her true origin finally discovered. Perdita is very much her mother’s daughter – she addresses Florizel in the same respect, as does Hermione to Leontes and she is also presented as a very feminine character, hence Perdita’s ‘flower speeches’ in Act IV:
“PERDITA
I'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
No more than were I painted I would wish
This youth should say 'twere well and only therefore
Desire to breed by me. Here's flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers
Of middle summer, and I think they are given
To men of middle age. You're very welcome.”
(Act Four, Scene Four)
The language used creates Perdita as vivid and distinct, it says more about her than Florizel.
Later, as Florizel and Perdita plan to escape to Sicilia and have to switch clothes to successfully escape, Florizel salutes Perdita with a lover’s enthusiasm for the transfiguration of her costume rather than its transformation of her great beauty:
“FLORIZEL
These your unusual weeds to each part of you
Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora
Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing
Is as a meeting of the petty gods,
And you the queen on't.”
(Act Four, Scene Four)
Florizel’s ode to Perdita is a lyrical picture of her beauty and grace.
Elizabethan England was undoubtedly still influenced by ancient Greek and Roman texts and philosophies, and by the teachings of the Bible, as we still are today in many respects, although perhaps not so much as in Shakespeare’s time. It is therefore worth noting that women’s roles could often have been influenced by the way in which they are portrayed by literary authorities.
In the Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis we can find the following example of how a woman brought shame unto mankind and caused the first humans to be extradited from paradise:
"And the Lord God said unto Eve –
I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
This idea of women being ruled by men is reflected in The Winter’s Tale through the battle of wills between Leontes and Paulina when Leontes is presented with his newborn child:
“LEONTES
What, canst not rule her?
PAULINA
From all dishonesty he can: in this,
Unless he take the course that you have done,
Commit me for committing honour, trust it,
He shall not rule me.”
(Act Two, Scene Three)
Shakespeare and his audience were clearly influenced by these ancient ideas. We can see this clearly from the way in which women are seemingly treated as subservient to men. In general, women are considered to be passive, while men are expected to be more active and aggressive. In The Winter’s Tale most men at some point are aggressive, even the once bland and colourless Polixenes demonstrates his aggression when he confronts Florizel and Perdita.
“POLIXENES
Mark your divorce, young sir,
Discovering himself
Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base
To be acknowledged: thou a sceptre's heir,
That thus affect'st a sheep-hook! Thou old traitor,
I am sorry that by hanging thee I can
But shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece
Of excellent witchcraft, who of force must know
The royal fool thou copest with,--”
(Act Four, Scene Four)
When we first see Paulina she is presented as somewhat aggressive in her manner, her tone and her language – what could be considered to be male characteristics – but later she is silenced or effectively ‘feminised’ by way of her arbitrary betrothal to Camillo. Also, we can draw parallels between the biblical Eve tempting Adam and possibly with Hermione causing Leontes rage, or with the relationship between Florizel and Perdita where Florizel is willing to sacrifice for his love – willing to give up his right to the throne; ‘the divine right of kings’ would forbid marriage to a woman of lower class. For examples of sacrifice from the Bible, we have only to look in the New Testament to discover the story of how Christ was sacrificed on the cross to save mankind, to purge mankind of it’s sins – although Christ’s sacrifice was a selfless one whereas Florizel was willing to sacrifice for love.
If The Winter’s Tale were written and produced today by one of our contemporaries, and set in modern day England it is a viable likelihood that it could be criticised by many as either an outrageous display of chauvinism or as vulgar farce. Just as in Shakespeare’s time, there are certain consensus views of how relationships between men and women can be presented.
Shakespeare’s own view of women reflected the generally held view at the time. We cannot judge Shakespeare by today’s standards. All literature must be interpreted in light of the culture to which it was originally addressed, and then the appropriate application to the current culture can be determined. The Winter’s Tale would first have been performed solely by men and would only have been viewed by a predominantly male audience, it could be argued that men would therefore find it harder to relate to the female characters and be less able to empathise with them. It is likely that Shakespeare took this into consideration when writing The Winter’s Tale.
Relationships between men and women, not to mention gender roles, are essentially subtexts in the majority, if not all, of Shakespeare’s plays – The Winter’s Tale being no exception – this suggests that Shakespeare was simply reflecting Elizabethan views and was not trying to tackle gender related issues, that is not to mention that he was certainly interested in this theme. Although, in The Winter’s Tale, there are some aspects that challenge traditional roles, by the end of the play everything has returned to normal – the ‘natural order’ has been restored once more – this could suggest that Shakespeare was presenting all the actions in the play as pure circumstance indicating that fundamental changes rarely occur, which explains just why Paulina had to be eventually silenced. This can be supported by Leontes’ seemingly overwhelming nihilism.
When analysing the portrayal of the relationships between men and women it is vital to examine the language used and the way in which it is used – not only what is said but how it is said as well. The language used helps to reveal insights into character and relationships, for example, nowhere in The Winter’s Tale do any of the female characters have ‘asides’ where they speak directly to the audience as if they are talking to themselves and thus give an insight into what the character is thinking so with characters such as Leontes we receive insights into his motivations, to a very cynical or simply to a feminist critic this could be interpreted as making the women seem more one-sided or shallow; the chief male characters each have two-sides incidentally – Polixenes and Leontes both have a calm and aggressive side, whereas Florizel’s character is not fully developed because of his age – Polixenes and Leontes are both fathers and kings. The way that Hermione addresses Leontes as “My Lord” suggests that she holds Leontes in such high esteem and with tremendous respect for him even in his darker moments, it could also be interpreted as Hermione’s conformity to Leontes’ power and authority. When Paulina presents Leontes with his new-born child Leontes asks Paulina’s husband, Antigonus, “Canst not rule her?”, to which Paulina replies “He shall not.” Paulina’s challenge to Leontes is a demonstration of how Leontes’ expectations and Paulina’s refusal to submit – an example of her apparent aggression. Florizel’s ode to Perdita in Act 4 indicates that women have different graces and also different vices than men do – women are praised for their beauty – so, different character traits make men and women virtuous:
“FLORIZEL
What you do
Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet.
I'ld have you do it ever: when you sing,
I'ld have you buy and sell so, so give alms,
Pray so; and, for the ordering your affairs,
To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you
A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that; move still, still so,
And own no other function: each your doing,
So singular in each particular,
Crowns what you are doing in the present deed,
That all your acts are queens.”
(Act Four, Scene Four)
Shakespeare’s presentation of relationships between men and women in The Winter’s Tale may seem to a contemporary audience to be fatalistic and effectively archaic. Though we have to remember that Shakespeare was writing within the conventions of his time, however much proponents would champion the suggestion that he transcended the limitations of Elizabethan society. For support of this idea we have only to examine other literature of the period from Ben Jonson to Christopher Marlowe, for example in Marlowe’s ‘Dido, Queen of Carthage’, the play ends with a queen killing herself for the loss of a man’s love, as does her soon to be aggrieved sister, this example illustrates prevalent themes of women’s subordination and submission and even such authoritative figures, which we would also assume to be strong, as queens killing themselves for the love of men. We can clearly see a parallel here with the story of Sappho, the Greek lyric poet of the seventh century BC who lived on the land of Lesbos; she is said to have committed suicide by drowning herself because a male lover rejected her.
It is, however, important to stress that The Winter’s Tale is not pure misogyny. In fact in this play, effectively the only woman-hater is Shakespeare’s outstanding misogynist, Leontes, who incidentally through the help of a fairly aggressive woman who refuses to submit to his authority – whether it be real or imagined – is able to redeem himself and ‘win back’ his wife.
In an introspective ‘Aside’ to the audience, Leontes uses the word “nothing” over and over.
“LEONTES
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible
Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.”
(Act One, Scene Two)
This could be said to be indicative of his nihilism – the alliance of misogyny and nihilism is one of the greater Shakespearean insights into male nature. Throughout the works of Shakespeare there are countless insights into human nature to be discovered, it is likely that Shakespeare was more interested or simply more apt in providing insights into male nature. This can help to explain the structure of The Winter’s Tale – although the play presents three women as very strong characters, we receive more insights into male nature than female nature, hence the lack of ‘asides’ during the play from the female characters. So because of Leontes’ overwhelming nihilism, his character is to a degree ambivalent – that is we feel alternating attraction and repulsion.
It could be argued that Shakespeare only goes so far with the gender roles – the women are eventually silenced or pacified – because the suspension of disbelief can only be maintained so far – the traditional view of women was confined within rigid boundaries. In The Winter’s Tale all the women are badly treated – incidentally, at the hands of men. Our perspective of the actions of the men we believe to be harsh, though to Shakespeare’s contemporaries they were likely to be justified – in fact chastisement would probably be justified to a more brutal extent. There is however little authentic evidence in the plays, that Shakespeare strove either to uphold or to subvert, however covertly, the established order.
Word Count: 2650
