WT-Psychoanalytic

Question 1

Stephen Reid
•Mamillius= Leontes’ “masculine self” / Perdita = “feminine self”
Murray Schwartz
•‘The myth of “twinn’d lambs” 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.’

Answer 1

Janet Adelman
•‘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’ static 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. And the 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 2

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 2

• ‘trained’ implications of duty + destiny + formality
• verbs ‘rooted’ + ‘branch’ coupled w adj ‘mature’ connote natural course of growth from childhood →adulthood
• Jux btw ‘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 3

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 3

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

Question 4

Pol to L (+H) as he begins his reasoning for needing to leave Sic + return to Bo:

Nine changes of the watery star hath been The shepherd’s note since we have left our throne… (1.2.1-2 p.85)

Answer 4

•‘nine changes’ = ref to period of human gestation / ‘watery star’ = moon (fem symbol) →pattern of dict serves to draw audience’s atten to 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 homosoc bonds
•L desires to return to pre-Oedipal existence free from ‘temptations’ of women
OR: •L feels intimidated by H’s maternal power / sees H as mother figure →Oedipal anxieties

Question 5

Pol to H reminiscing a/b idyllic childhood w/ L:

We were as twinn’d lambs that did frisk i’th’sun (1.2.66 p.89)

Answer 5

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

Question 6

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 6

• ‘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 idealise their youth + associate loss of this w sexual maturity

Question 7

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 7

• Jux nostalgia of Pol’s childhood recollections
• ‘crabbed’ + ‘soured’ + ‘death’ = resentful tone / pattern of dict assoc w 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 8

L seeking comfort in young son Mam:

The say we are almost as like as eggs (1.2.128-129 p.93)

Answer 8

• ‘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 ‘…a deeply irrational attempt to replace the lost twin ship by reinstating the fantasy of male parthenogenesis in Mamillius.’

Question 9

Observing Mam →reflecting on own youth:

Looking on the lines of my boy’s face, methoughts I did recoil twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreeched…my dagger muzzled…’ (1.2.152-157 p.95)

Answer 9

• ‘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 emphasising L’s state of infantile reg + repulsion towards sexual maturity

Question 10

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 barricado for a belly; know’t; It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage: many thousand on’s Have the disease, and feel’t not. (1.2.185-205 p.97-98)

Answer 10

•‘sluiced’ + ‘bag and baggage →graphic imagery assoc w male sexual exp / L indulging in fantasy of repressed desires?
OR •L demonising sex 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 11

Mam to H:

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

Answer 11

• 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 12

Mam to H:

I have drunk, and seen the spider.’ (2.1.45 p.114)

Answer 12

• 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 13

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 13

• 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 integ role women play

Question 14

Paul convincing jailer to let her take Perd to 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 14

• 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 influ can “cure” him

Question 15

L a/b Mam’s decline in health:

Conceiving the dishonour of his mother, He straight declined, droop’d, took it deeply (2.3.13-14 p.128)

Answer 15

• ‘dishonour’, ‘declined’, ‘droop’d’, ‘deeply’ allit emphasizes 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 16

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 16

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

Question 17

L to Paul as she challenges him:

A callat Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband And now baits me! (2.3.90-92 p.133-134)

Answer 17

• Allit of ‘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 masc power
• L projecting castration anxieties onto Paul + Antig’s r’ship

Question 18

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 18

• ‘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 attrib to 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 19

Antig recounting his dream a/b H to baby Perd as 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 19

•‘pure white robes’, ‘sanctity’ connote H’s obvious innocence + Antig’s unconscious acknow of this →chooses to ignore this + brutally punished for ignoring innate desires/feelings

Question 20

Clown recounting the sinking of the Sic ship which was:

…swallowed with yeast and froth… (3.3.85 p.160)

Answer 20

• New setting of Bo / untamed coast jux w 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 provides break from L’s psyche to allow for growth, healing + reconcil

Question 21

Shepherd’s opening lines after storm:

I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty… (3.3.58 p.158)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Autolycus sings a raunchy song:

When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh, the doxy over the dale… (4.3.1-2 p.167)

Answer 22

• ‘daffodil’, ‘doxy’ + ‘dale’ allit assoc sex (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 attit towards sex as / rather he sees sex as playful + fun
• h/w challenge to L X strong as Auto is a rogue + petty thief / contemp aud X take him seriously compared w king

Question 23

Florizel praises Perdita ahead of the sheep shearing fest:

This your sheep-shearing Is as a meeting of the petty gods, And you the queen on’t. (4.4.2-5 p.174)

Answer 23

• F provides more credible foil to L as he uses his lang to elevate P’s status as opposed to degrade her
• F X intim by Perd’s fecundity rather embraces it as part of her beauty + authentic self
• Connotations of F’s name→ “in touch” w “fem self”

Question 24

Florizel fondly 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 24

• ‘f’ allit intertwines F + Perd’s dialogue 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 earlier in play
• Tone of play changed to fecundity + vibrancy w shift in setting + foil to L + H’s r’ship

Question 25

Florizel assures 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 be Mine own, nor any thing to any, if I be not thine. To this I am most constant, Though destiny say no. (4.4.42-46 p.176)

Answer 25

• ‘fair’ + ‘father’s’ allit of ‘F’ intertwines F + P’s speech throughout their dialogue suggesting equality + mutual respect
• F puts immanent desires before duties/ Unlike L, F living in present moment X concerned w future responsibilities or past memories→ more authentic lived exp

Question 26

Perd in 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 26

• F + Perd embrace life’s ephemerality (‘quick’) X intim by passage of time (‘corpse’ symbolising death/mortality) but excited at prospect of sexual encounters (‘love’, ‘lie’, ‘play’)
• Embrace mutability of psychosexual dev as part of life’s natural processes

Question 27

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 27

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

Question 28

Stage directions:

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

Answer 28

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

Question 29

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 lets go by some sixteen years and makes her As she lived now. (5.3.30-32 p.242)

Answer 29

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

Question 30

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 30

• 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 31

L to Paul:

O, she is warm! If this be magic, let it be an art Lawful as eating (5.3.109-111 p.247)

Answer 31

• 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
• ‘lawful as eating’ L now recognizes embracing present as necessary feature of true human existence