Winter Tale freud

Question 1

stephen Reid

Answer 1

Mamillius= Leontes’ “masculine self” / Perdita = “feminine self”

Question 2

MurraySchwartz

Answer 2

The myth of “twin’dlambs” is a retrospective idealisation of boyhood in the interest of clinging to a paradisal version of pre-Oedipal existence when confronted by the temptation towards sexual contact.’•‘As Mamillius’ name implies, Leontes’ masculine image of himself is maternally fixated.’

Question 3

Janet Adelman

Answer 3

‘Shakespeare achieves the recuperation of the maternal body…by immersion in the fertile space of a decidedly female pastoral…filled with the vibrant energies of sexuality and seasonal change, it stands as a rebuke to Polixenes’sstatic and nostalgic male pastoral…The pastoral initiates this recuperation…moving from tragedy to romance by demonstrating that this place of “otherness” can be a source of richness…’
•‘…the primary psychic significance of the play’s radical break with Leontes’s consciousness…the only possible antidote to his disease…Leontes’s psyche is presented as the locus of the disease…’
•‘…if Leontes’s attempt to control the world by banishing the female had unmade the world for him, Hermione’s coming to life figures the return of the world to him and his capacity to tolerate and participate in its aliveness, with all its attendant risks.’•‘…in Paulina’s refuge, which Leontes’s long penitential submission entitles him to enter, maternal presence can be restored. Andthe restoration turns on bringing him face to face with exactly what he has done, so that he can undo it step by step, vesting Hermione with life as he has earlier deprived her of it. For the statue grants him what he thought he wanted: the unreliable female body reduced to an icon he could possess forever, static and unchanging.’

Question 4

Opening dialogue btw Cam + Arch discussing L + Pol’s friendship:

They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted between them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society… (1.1.19-21 p.84)

Answer 4

• ‘trained’ implications of duty + destiny + formality
• verbs ‘rooted’ + ‘branch’ coupled w adj ‘mature’ connote natural course of growth from childhood →adulthood•Juxbtw ‘childhood affections’ + ‘more mature dignities’ mirroring L’s internal conflict
• Setting scene for L’s bitter rejection of duty in favour indulging pleasure principles

Question 5

Opening dialogue btw Cam + Arch discussing Mam as heir to throne:It is a gallant child, one that…makes old hearts fresh. (1.1.32-33 p.85)

Answer 5

•Emphasis on patriarchal succession + faith of subjects placed on Mam (highlight tragedy of death for contempaud)•Mam = L’s ‘mascself’ (Reid) foreshadows inevitable untimely death b/c L must identify w ‘fem self’ to achieve redemption•Juxbtw ‘old’ + ‘fresh’ emphasis on Mam’s youth + regenerative properties / youth characterised as ‘unspeakable comfort’ + desirable

Question 6

Pol to L (+H) as he begins his reasoning for needing to leave Sic + return to Bo:Nine changes of the watery star hath beenThe shepherd’s note since we have left our throne… (1.2.1-2 p.85)

Answer 6

•‘nine changes’ = ref to period of human gestation / ‘watery star’ = moon (fem symbol) →pattern of dictserves to draw audience’s attento H’s pregnant body•Pol uses this lang to begin his reasoning for needing to leave Sic →resentment from L to H b/c sees her as severing homosocbonds •L desires to return to pre-Oedipal existence free from ‘temptations’ of womenOR:•L feels intimidated by H’s maternal power / sees H as mother figure →Oedipal anxieties

Question 7

Pol to H reminiscing a/b idyllic childhood w/ L:We were as twinn’dlambs that did frisk i’ the sun(1.2.66 p.89)

Answer 7

•Phonetic qualities e.g.clipped assonance + soft consonance →nostalgic tone•Pastoral imagery + biblical allusion to prelapsarian Eden •Pol + L idealisetheir sexless youth + wish to be ‘boy eternal’

Question 8

Pol to H on how/why halcyon days ended:O my most sacred lady!Temptations have since then been born to’s(1.2.75-79 p.90)

Answer 8

•‘temptations’ bib allusion to Eve as perpetrator for fall of Man•‘born to’s’ = passive voice (men abjuring responsibility) / verb choice ‘born’ shows maternal lang pervades speech despite disdain for role of women in society•Pol + L idealisetheir youth + associate loss of this w sexual maturity

Question 9

L recalling courtship w H before she agreed to marry him:‘three crabbed months’ that ‘soured themselves to death’(1.2.108-101 p.91)

Answer 9

•Juxnostalgia of Pol’s childhood recollections•‘crabbed’ + ‘soured’ + ‘death’ = resentful tone / pattern of dictassocw over-maturing/ripening + becoming ruined•L has disdain for duty as king + husb/ desires return pre-sexual boyhood before ‘temptations’ caused him to ‘sin’•Positions H as reluctant bride + further evidence L sees her as mother figure

Question 10

L seeking comfort in young son Mam:The say we are almost as like as eggs(1.2.128-129 p.93)

Answer 10

•‘eggs’ connote embryo i.e.earliest point in human dev emphasizes L’s drastic infantile reg•L tries to identify w Mam b/c feels betrayed by previous ‘twin’ Pol•Described by Adelman as ‘…adeeply irrational attempt to replace the lost twinship by reinstating the fantasy of male parthenogenesis in Mamillius.’

Question 11

Observing Mam →reflecting on own youth:Looking on the lines of my boy’s face, methoughtsI did recoil twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreeched…my dagger muzzled…’(1.2.152-157 p.95)

Answer 11

•‘recoil’ connotes disgust/fear/repulsion →L has aversion to current state of adult + sexual maturity + wishes to return to earlier stage of psychosexual dev•‘unbreeched’ = in child’s clothing i.e.X yet sexually mature / ‘dagger’ = phallic imagery + martial symb/ ‘muzzled’ connotes restrain + suppression emphasisingL’s state of infantile reg + repulsion towards sexual maturity

Question 12

L salaciously imagining H’s supposed infidelity w Pol:And many a man there is…That little thinks she [his wife] has been sluiced in’s absence…No barricadofor a belly; know’t;It will let in and out the enemyWith bag and baggage: many thousand on’sHave the disease, and feel’tnot. (1.2.185-205 p.97-98)

Answer 12

•‘sluiced’ + ‘bag and baggage →graphic imagery assocw male sexual exp / L indulging in fantasy of repressed desires? OR•L demonisingsex as lewd, explicit + undesirable exp to distance himself from sexual maturity (infantile reg)•Objectifying H as ‘a belly’ L tries to claim her body as male space which he must defend (‘barricado’) from the ‘enemy’ (Pol/father figure)•‘disease’ = adulthood? Repressed desires? Sexual desires?

Question 13

Mam to H:A sad tale’s best for winter(2.1.25-26 p.113)

Answer 13

•1 of only 2 female, domestic spaces in the play (other is Paul’s gallery in A5)•‘winter’s tale’ i.e.fairy tale traditionally gendered female →Mam comfortable in this space•Connotations of Mam’s name•L forcibly removes Mam from maternal space at crucial stage in dev →arrested dev + untimely death •Motif of seasons + significance of title / winter = dormant rep L’s wishes for X change but w/o change X growth

Question 14

Mam to H:I have drunk, andseen the spider.’(2.1.45 p.114)

Answer 14

•Metaphor for L’s narrow + warped view of world →focused only on his needs + desires while neglecting those of his family + subjects•Link to oral contamination →spider = women? “fem self”?

Question 15

Seizing Mam from H:Give me the boy. I am glad you did not nurse him. Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you have too much blood in him. (2.1.56-58 p.115)

Answer 15

•Mam forcibly removed from nurturing fem space / name connotes bond b/w mother + child →adumbrates Mam’s untimely death b/c X survive w/o maternal nurturance•‘not nurse him’ –placing H as source of corruption (broader pattern of d) •‘too much blood in him’ –L seeks to rid his world of “corrupting” fem influ→doomed to fail b/c integrole women play

Question 16

Paul convincing jailer to let her take Perdto L:This child was prisoner to the womb and is by law and process of great nature thence freed and enfranchised…(2.2.58-59 p.126)

Answer 16

•challenges L’s latent womb fantasy / infant reg b/c Paul highlights natural process of birth + freedom/independence that comes w this•‘office becomes a woman best’ →Paul recognizes L rejecting “fem self” t/f only strong, determined fem influcan “cure” him

Question 17

L a/b Mam’s decline in health:Conceiving the dishonourof his mother,He straight declined, droop’d, took it deeply(2.3.13-14 p.128)

Answer 17

•‘dishonour’, ‘declined’, ‘droop’d’, ‘deeply’ allitemphasizes Mam dramatic decline since being forcibly removed from mother →arrested dev due to ↓maternal care + nurturance•L trying to negate maternal role by blaming H for Mam’s decline

Question 18

Paul to L as she tries make him see sense:I do come with words as medicinal as true(2.3.13-14 p.128)

Answer 18

•‘medicinal’ Paul’s ‘words’ portrayed as “antidote” to L’s fixation on pre-Oedipal/repulsion towards women + sex•Fem influonly way to “cure” L’s ‘disease’•Eloquence of fem characters vs L’s erratic speech throughout play

Question 19

L to Paul as she challenges him:A callatOf boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husbandAnd now baits me! (2.3.90-92 p.133-134)

Answer 19

•Allitof ‘b’ →contemptuous tone•‘callet’, ‘boundless tongue’, ‘beat’, ‘bait’ position Paul as stereotypical shrewish woman →L relying on these tropes to try + rid himself of fem infl+ reinforce his sense of mascpower•L projecting castration anxieties onto Paul + Antig’sr’ship

Question 20

Servant to L:The prince, your son, with mere conceit and fear of the Queen’s speed, is gone.Paul:This news is mortal to the Queen.(3.2.141-144 p.149-50)

Answer 20

•‘innocent milk’ + ‘innocent mouth’ maternal imagery highlights H’s role as mother + nurturer / rep of ‘innocent’ emphasizes H’s position is inline w that of oracle’s•Mam’s death directly attribto H’s mistreatment / ‘mortal’i.e.deadly →shows intrinsic + symbiotic bond btw mother + child + catastrophic consequences of severing bond before child is fully dev

Question 21

Antigrecounting his dream a/b H to baby Perdas he prepares to abandon her on seacoast of Bo:…thy mother appear to me last night…in pure white robes like very sanctity…(3.3.16-22 p.156)

Answer 21

•‘pure white robes’, ‘sanctity’ connote H’s obvious innocence + Antig’sunconscious acknowof this →chooses to ignore this + brutally punished forignoring innate desires/feelings

Question 22

Clown recounting the sinking of the Sic ship which was:…swallowed with yeast and froth…(3.3.85 p.160)

Answer 22

•New setting of Bo / untamed coast juxw confines of interior spaces of Sic (e.g.court) / Adelman: ‘fertile space of a decidedly female pastoral’ to allow for L’s healing + reconciliation •Purgative storm providesbreak from L’s psyche to allow for growth, healing + reconcil

Question 23

Shepherd’s opening lines after storm:I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty…(3.3.58 p.158)

Answer 23

•Stark contrast to L’s fixation on youth →Sheprecognizes folly of youth + embraces knowledge that comes w aging process (provides foil to L)

Question 24

Autolycus sings a raunchy song:When daffodils begin to peer,With heigh, the doxy over the dale…(4.3.1-2 p.167)

Answer 24

•‘daffodil’, ‘doxy’ + ‘dale’ allitassocsex (doxy = prostitute) w nature suggesting sex is natural + should not be seen as ‘sinful’ as was suggested in first part of play•Foil to L →contrast w salacious lang earlier in play / Auto’s song appears to mock L’s sterile attittowards sex as / rather he sees sex as playful + fun•h/w challenge to L X strong as Auto is a rogue + petty thief / contempaudX take him seriously compared w king

Question 25

Florizelpraises Perdita ahead of the sheep shearing fest:This your sheep-shearingIs as a meeting of the petty gods,And you the queen on’t.(4.4.2-5 p.174)

Answer 25

•F provides more credible foil to L as he uses his lang to elevate P’s status as opposed to degrade her•F X intimby Perd’sfecundity rather embraces it as part of her beauty + authentic self•ConnotationsofF’sname→“intouch” w “fem self”

Question 26

Florizelfondly recalls his first meeting w Perd:I bless the time when my good falcon made her flight across thy father’s ground(4.4.13-14 p.175)

Answer 26

•‘f’ allitintertwines F + Perd’sdialogue highlighting symbiosis of r’ship/ serendipitous nature of their union rooted in nature •Stark contrast w L’s bitter recollection of his courtship w H earlierinplay•Tone ofplaychangedtofecundity + vibrancy w shift in setting + foil to L + H’s r’ship

Question 27

Florizelassures Perdita that his father will not come b/w them:Or I’ll be thine, my fair,Or not my father’s. For I cannot beMine own, nor any thing to any, ifI be not thine. To this I am most constant,Though destiny say no.(4.4.42-46 p.176)

Answer 27

•‘fair’ + ‘father’s’ allitof ‘F’ intertwines F + P’s speech throughout their dialogue suggesting equality + mutual respect•F putsimmanent desires beforeduties/ Unlike L,FlivinginpresentmomentXconcernedwfutureresponsibilities or past memories→more authentic lived exp

Question 28

Perdin response to F’s joke that she wants to ‘strew’ him with flowers like a corpse’:No, like a bank for love to lie and play on not like a corpse; or if, not to be buried, but quick, and in mine arms(4.4.129-132 p.181)

Answer 28

•F + Perdembrace life’s ephemerality (‘quick’) X intimby passage of time (‘corpse’ symbolisingdeath/mortality) but excited at prospect of sexual encounters (‘love’, ‘lie’, ‘play’)•Embrace mutabilityofpsychosexual devaspartoflife’snaturalprocesses

Question 29

L to F on learning that he is Pol’s son:Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;For she did print your royal father off,Conceiving you(5.1.123-125 p. 226)

Answer 29

•‘print off’ →despite being “reformed” L still appears fixated on male twinship

Question 30

Stage directions:[Paulina draws back the curtain and reveals] Hermione like a statue(5.3 p. 241)

Answer 30

•2ndfem space in play (other is H’s chamber at beginning of 2.1) / L only allowed in after 16 yrs’ subservience to Paul →L submittedto“femself”soplay’s reconciliation can take place•classical allusion to myth of Pygmalion →irony that H now embodies what L yearned for @ beginning: unchanging + barren

Question 31

Paul to L as she explains why H’s statue appears to show her more aged than when he last saw her:So much the more our carver’s excellence;Which letsgo by some sixteen years and makes herAs she lived now.(5.3.30-32 p.242)

Answer 31

•‘letsgo by’, ‘lived now’→ideal no longer seen in static space of male pastoral evoked by Pol but in beauty + apprecof present moment / Paul’s fem influas enabled L to purge himself of Oedipal anxieties + embrace life’s mutability

Question 32

L lamenting the loss of the ‘warm life’ of the woman who now ‘coldly’ stands before him:Does not the stone rebuke me for being more stone than it?(5.3.37-38 p.242)

Answer 32

•L appears reformed as he wishes for H to return to ‘warm life’ where before he lambasted her as actions ‘too hot!’ / desires H to live even to ‘rebuke’ him•L appears ready to embrace H for her authentic self•Contrast to earlier disdainful recollection of courtship

Question 33

L to Paul:O, she is warm! Ifthisbemagic,letitbeanartLawfulaseating(5.3.109-111 p.247

Answer 33

•L appears reformed →where before he lambasted her as actions ‘too hot!’ he now appears ready to embrace her for authentic self + prepared to accept risks that may come with that•‘lawfulaseating’Lnowrecognizes embracingpresentasnecessary feature of true human existence