Section A - VVS leaving behind past/parts of self to grow

Question 1

INTRO

Answer 1

For psychoanalytic critics of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, healthy psychological growth requires characters to leave behind past versions of themselves. As such, whilst Leontes’ refusal to relinquish his attachment to his pre-Oedipal existence initially arrests his psychological development, the play’s shift to the vivacious world of Bohemia rehearses his metaphysical abnegation of this static worldview, enabling apparent progress, though this is ultimately revealed to be merely illusory.

Question 2

BP1 - WHAT

Answer 2

From a psychoanalytic perspective, tragedy initially befalls Sicilia due to Leontes’ pre-occupation with his hyper-masculine, pre-Oedipal boyhood, which stunts the healthy development of his psyche and his relationships with others.

Question 3

BP1 - WHY

Answer 3

Therefore, in a psychoanalytic reading of the play’s opening acts, clinging to past versions of one’s self is revealed to be catastrophic for proper psychological and inter-personal development.

Question 4

BP2 - WHAT

Answer 4

Leaving behind Sicilia, nature’s cycles of youth and maturity experience a resurgence in the untamed realm of Bohemia.

Question 5

BP2 - WHY

Answer 5

Hence, psychoanalytic critics may offer Shakespeare’s construction of a mutable, feminine and flourishing world in the form of Bohemia as a glimpse of the psychological growth possible when toxic idealisations of the past are disowned.

Question 6

BP3 - WHAT

Answer 6

However, the extent to which Leontes’ psyche had truly progressed is problematised by the fact that the play’s reconciliation, according to Aldeman, “takes place within a framework that is decidedly patriarchal”.

Question 7

BP3 - WHY

Answer 7

Thus, audiences concerned with characters’ psychological development may view this ending as quite bathetic, as Leontes remains adamant that he must repress personal growth in favour of reconstructing a pseudo-past, diminishing those around him to mere tools in the process.

Question 8

CONCLUSION

Answer 8

Ultimately then, Shakespeare does indeed illustrate how abnegating outdated parts of oneself is paramount for genuine growth. However, psychoanalysts would posit that progress is impossible when individuals, such as Leontes, hold immense social influence, allowing them to opt out of the maturing process. Thus, repression of immanent desires, to psychoanalytic audiences, is the central barricade inhibiting all characters, especially those who lack power, from truly flourishing