The finale of The Winter’s Tale reminded me of act V in Much Ado about Nothing. In The Winter’s Tale, everyone except Paulina believed that Hermione was dead. Paulina presents a statue that looks exactly like Hermione would look now, if she were to be alive. To everyone’s surprise it is Hermione alive and well. Unfortunately there is no explanation as to why she was in hiding for the past sixteen years except to make Leontes suffer for his jealous illusions. In the beginning of this act, Leontes is still in agony because of his wife’s and son’s death. Although he is motivated to move on, Paulina encourages him to continue in agony and makes him promise not to marry again. Hermione does not appear until Perdita returns to exempt her father from his suffering.
In Much Ado about Nothing, Hero is also believed to be dead. Once Claudio carries out with his punishment of writing a poem to her and agreeing to marry her cousin, Hero reveals herself. Hero and Hermione’s deaths are led by the false accusations against them. The reveal of their existence contributes to the order and happiness at the end of each play. They symbolize death and rebirth in both plays. Our current play started off with winter and two deaths and ends in spring with the return of Hermione and Perdita to Leontes.
This is a motif that appears in several of Shakespeare’s plays. To recover that which seems lost is a deep human desire. It is worth considering what kind of characters undergo a perceived death and then prove capable of experiencing rebirth. In contemporary culture, both religious and scientific, we read quite frequently about being reborn. The mechanics by which this occurs are not always obvious, as is the case in The Winter’s Tale, but we’ll consider what might have happened in class.
I agree with Natalie. I also believe that play had a twist to the ending. After a while, you are able to guess the ending of Shakespeare’s works. This, however, was unpredictable and made the play that much more interesting. I did see the reoccurring themes that appear in his other works such as Much Ado About Nothing. We have women’s voices who are barely heard and believed. They are forced to die and reappear. I just didn’t see this ending coming this time.
The Winter’s Tale reflects Shakespeare’s interest in the problem of the opposition between nature and art. We can notice the first instances of this struggle at the beginning of the play when Mamillius observes the artificial shape of the eyebrows of the ladies at the court. As the play progresses we can see the contrast between the court and the rustic character of Bohemia. The view that nature is superior to art seems to dominate. It is visible through the character of Perdita. She doesn’t accept any hybrid flowers in her garden and she is more comfortable to be dressed down than wearing the costume of Flora. Perdita symbolizes authenticity and natural beauty.
The Winter’s Tale finale is very interesting and certainly unexpected. We learn that Paulina has become an art collector and in her house we discover of the statue of Hermione. The queen comes to life and she is miraculously reunited with Leontes and her daughter Perdita. It is very unclear if Hermione has actually been resurrected, or whether she never really died and was hidden away by Paulina. Nevertheless, the final scene seems to reinforce the notion that art itself is the nature as Hermione comes back to life through art.