Monday, April 24, 2006

Reading

• The Winter’s Tale, Act 5

Notes

Today we’ll focus on Shakespeare’s portrayal of country life. What does the fourth act (and the last scene of act three) of The Winter’s Tale tell us about rural people? What kinds of class distinctions does Shakespeare establish between the royalty and the shepherds? In light of what you’ve read in The Bedford Companion, do you take issue with what happens in this act? How does this dynamic change as we encounter act five?

These and other questions will be at the forefront of our discussion. I encourage you to come again with your own questions. The conversation on Friday was excellent.

I have additional thoughts about my favorite stage direction. Bear-mauling in The Winter’s Tale is almost unique to this one of Shakespeare’s plays, though Macbeth comes close: “They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, / But bearlike I must fight the course” (5.7.1–2). The shipwreck in The Winter’s Tale is decidedly not: check out The Merchant of Venice or The Tempest for another instance in which a shipwreck helps drive the plot.