The Winter’s Tale is the only play we’ve read (and perhaps the only play Shakespeare has written?) that takes up a period of 16 years. The importance of time in the play is obvious and I think multiple factors contributed to why Shakespeare decided to implement the usage of a time skip after act III. Below are just some of my thoughts as to why Shakespeare used the time skip as well as scenes/lines in the play that highlighted the significance of time.
1. Polixenes could’ve been staying at Leontes’s kingdom for 9 days, 9 weeks, 9 years but Shakespeare intentionally uses 9 months, “nine changes of the watery star” (1.2.1), to show the possibility that Hermione’s pregnancy is somehow caused by him (although it’s not). In this case, time plays a negative role in arousing Leontes’s suspicions about Polixenes and Hermione’s relationship.
2. By the time The Winter’s Tale was released, Shakespeare had already a done so many different plays. Perhaps he knew he was near the end of his career and reflected on what he had accomplished up till now. He might have realized the importance of time and how fleeting it was (the time between The Comedy of Errors, his first written play, and The Winter’s Tale is roughly around 16 years). Maybe at this point, Shakespeare also wanted to try something he had not done before in his previous plays and therefore went with a time skip.
3. The mass production of the watch: I remember Professor Berggren mentioned in class that more and more people at this time were getting watches. At first you had to be very wealthy and privileged to get your hands on one but by the early 1600s, it was more widespread than ever before. The idea of time ticking away must have played a role into why Shakespeare thought of speeding time up in The Winter’s Tale.
Why do you think Shakespeare used a time skip? Were there any other interesting moments in the play that stuck out to you in regards to time?
All of the last plays, or romances, have to do with long passages of time. This is a feature of the Greek Romances written in and around the first century. Shipwrecks separate families and lovers who are miraculously reunited after much suffering. In an apparently tragic world, the life force prevails. Comedies end in marriage, tragedies end in death, romances end in restoration.
Every one of your points seem to be relevant, but i especially agree to the second. Shakespeare’s references to time–specifically to 16 years can be directly related to the life span of his career at that point. Also, Shakespeare has been known to make note of time in both plays as well as ssonnets. He as 4 sonnets speaking of time and death, relating to his own life or, some have said, life spans of certain objects in nature. Sonnet 73, in particular, was written some time 1620’s where he would only be in his 30’s; he mentions himself as lying on a bed of his youth. He might have been seeing his career coming to a close or maybe even his life as youth was escaping him.
Prof also mentioned Shakespeare having a daughter whom he loved more dearly than the other, and being that this was well into his career–this could have be in reference to her as far as his years racing by as well as her own.
Time is certainly one of the great Shakespearean preoccupations, but I am not aware of any authoritative dating of the sonnets.