"The Winter's Tale" has been seen as a play celebrating natural renewal and regeneration. Others see it as a tale with a Christian message. Examine these interpretations and explain your own interpretation.

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Tilly Riches                                                                        March 2003

“The Winter’s Tale” has been seen as a play celebrating natural renewal and regeneration. Others see it as a tale with a Christian message. Examine these interpretations and explain your own interpretation.

        “The Winter’s Tale” contains themes and symbols throughout which illustrate various interpretations and messages behind the mask of the play. It is important to appreciate the socio-political context at the time of Shakespeare. There was much conflict between Christians. Protestants had been persecuted during the Catholic reign of Mary (Elizabeth’s sister) and during Elizabeth’s Protestant reign there was religious conflict between Britain and the Holy Roman Empire.

The cycle of natural renewal and regeneration is demonstrated throughout “The Winter’s Tale”. Nature consists of an ordered structure; at the top of this structure is divinity, followed by the predators (monarchy) and at the bottom the prey (common man). Normally in nature individuals do not move from lower to higher levels and vice versa. Furthermore, anyone who tries to move vertically will be punished by the level they try to enter. Leontes violates this rule by overruling divinity when the oracle reveals the truth about Hermione that he does not agree with. The King has caused the death of Hermione and “the heavens themselves do strike at [his] injustice.” This can be related to both the historical context of “The Winter’s Tale” and the idea that “The Winter’s Tale” is a play with Christian connotations. Henry VIII had broken from the Catholic Church to obtain a divorce from his first wife this is linked to the actions of Leontes; he discounts religious authority for his own interests. Protestant teachings, particularly the writings of Martin Luther (an eminent 16th century religious reformer), show that monarchs are divinely appointed and common man must respect their authority. However, monarchs are answerable to those who appoint them. Although Leontes overrules the oracle, which is not a Christian source of authority, this can be understood as a metaphor for the authority of god. Here we see that both interpretations are dependent on each other.

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Contrasts between Sicilia and Bohemia also illustrate this concept of regeneration. We leave Sicilia in Winter and arrive at the birth of Spring in Bohemia, “When daffodils begin to peer”, the natural seasonal cycle. Sicilia is struck by a manmade tragedy and the world of nature is left barren by winter. Yet in Bohemia we have moved on sixteen years. Act four begins with a natural tragedy the death of Antigonus by a bear. However, with spring comes regeneration as a new generation lives. We are confronted by a pastoral setting, representative of fertility in nature and springtime. The theme ...

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