About this title: "The Winter's Tale" is Shakespeare's most perfectly realized tragi-comedy, as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and, throughout, for the richness and complexity of its poetry. It concludes, moreover, with the most daring and moving reconciliation scene in all of Shakespeare's plays. Though the title may suggest an escapist ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Longman, Harlow
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780582287280ISBN:0582287286
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover., In like new dust jacket. xxii, 358p. : ill.; 20 cm. The text of the play has been taken from the Collins Classics Alexander text of the 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' (HarperCollins 1994). read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780486411187ISBN:0486411184
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 128 p. Dover Thrift Editions. Audience: General/trade. New and Instock read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780140707168ISBN:0140707166
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Small amount of under-lining. Slight cover-, edge-, wear. NO stains, tears, in tight book. 256 pp. New Penguin Shakespeare Library. Audience: General/trade. read more
Publisher: NAL/Signet, New Orleans, LA
Date Published: 1963
Description: Fair. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Pages tanning otherwise good. Cover is torn at corners & edgeworn. Notes on first page. SUMMARY: Special introduction to the play; General discussion of Shakespeare's life, world and theater; Selections from Robert Greene's Pandosto, the source from which Shakespeare derived this play; Dramatic criticism; Detailed footnotes and more. read more
"Not my favorite Shakespeare. The appendix included the story 'Pandosto' by Robert Greene, on which Shakespeare's play was based, which I found to be better in many respects (although not the ending). Uncharacteristically, the perpetrator of all the misery, who is justly punished for his jealously and avarice in Greene's story, is in a good measure rewarded in the play. The lead character, Leontes, in his jealousy, is much like Othello - in fact causes even greater harm - but doesn't suffer Othello's fate.
The play was choppy and not as stylized, witty or profound as some of Shakespeare's other works."
"I enjoyed this play enough, but it certainly wasn't my favorite. I thought the plot was good. I thought the book raised interesting questions about faith and taking things at face value. I only really thought the writing was especially good in a couple of places, I found some of the characters a bit difficult to relate to. Thre's also one speculation about the title which I find interesting. At one point Hermione asks her son to tell a story and some people believe that this would be the story he'd have told. I also thought the play was a bit similar to Beauty and the Beast in that there seems to be points whre Leontes trusts no one yet by the end of the play it's everyone else, not himself, who have led to the play's conclusion.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this play and I'm glad I did, it's just not one that stuck with me as much."
"Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale is a bizarre, ranging comedy. The play jumps so lightly between slapstick and cruelty that it's unclear whether it's a dark farce, a bloody satire exposing the dangers of absolute power, or a moldy amalgam of cuckoldry, class, and misogyny.
The premise has a king baselessly charge his queen with infidelity. He believes she's slept with his brother, who wisely flees a plot to murder him. Suspected adultery is a common hook for Shakespearean comedy, with misunderstanding harmlessly giving way to reconciliation, but this story doesn't skip to a happy ending. People die-one lord is famously eaten by a bear-and their quick, brutal ends remain unredeemed, the senseless spinoffs of a king's jealousy.
While the king eventually claims guilt, he keeps his throne and privilege, with no consequences for his actions. It is clear that he lives by his whim, above laws, his station ensuring his status.
Similarly, his brother rages in his own kingdom, threatening murder and torture, in great detail, to peasants who have unwittingly displeased him. Lovers flee, false identities are discovered, and the play pushes itself to a magical ending. By the final scenes, the medium itself has been strained and exposed. The most momentous events take place offstage; the final scene unfolds as an inside joke, poking fun at the staged setting to work the miracle.
What did Shakespeare intend as he wrote The Winter's Tale? Is the casual cruelty a nod to cynicism as he reached the end of his career? Was it meant to highlight life's unevenness, the capriciousness of kings? Would the audience have laughed at the king's jealousy or his brother's rage? Would the kings have been viewed as "bad" kings, or would their failings have been standard for the lot? Did the play seek to evoke the sword that dangles above a nation of subjects? Or was it just a bundle of jokes, summing up man's eternal folly?
It's a strange, mixed bag, but there seems to be some subversiveness in it, along with a great deal of sadness and resignation. Terrible things happen for no good reason, it tells us. Sure, sometimes all ends well. But more often, in the end, you're just food for the bears."
"The Winter's Tale is one of my favorites from Shakespeare's catalog. Because it is (arguably) one of the later Romances, it hosts a blend of tragedy and comedy unlike any of the earlier works. It also features the infamous, "exeunt, pursued by bear" stage direction that has been mocked and loved through the ages. The tale is set in ancient Sicily and is split by a sixteen year gap between the third and fourth act. It has many similar themes to Othello including fidelity and the disparity between male-male and male-female relationships, but seems to have a more uplifting, supernatural end, giving way to the possibility of forgiveness and moving on. I appreciate the less definitive, more ambiguous feeling of the ending, but also the rich dialogue between the kings, their heirs, and subjects."
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