The Winter's Tale
The play The Winter's Tale draws its main plot from Robert Greene's pastoral romance Pandosto, published in 1588. Shakespeare made uncharacteristically slight changes to the source material, especially given the undramatic nature of the original romance. This fidelity gives The Winter's Tale its most distinctive feature: a sixteen-year gap between the third and fourth acts. That gap violates the Classical Unities, principles for dramatic tragedies introduced in 16th-century Italy based on Aristotle's work. While names and places shift slightly, the largest divergence lies in the survival and reconciliation of Hermione and Leontes at the end. In Greene's Pandosto, the character equivalent to Hermione dies after being accused of adultery. Her counterpart in the play, Leontes, looks back upon his deeds and slays himself. Shakespeare instead sets the restoration of the older generation in the foreground through the reunion of Leontes and Hermione. Leontes not only lives but seems to insist on the happy ending of the play. Minor influences suggest a renewed interest in the dramatic contexts of Shakespeare's youth. He uses a chorus to advance the action in the manner of the naive dramatic tradition. The use of a bear in the scene on the Bohemian seashore is almost certainly indebted to Mucedorus, a chivalric romance revived at court around 1610.
Scholars have long debated whether Hermione truly died or simply fainted during her trial in Act III. Some passages suggest she was spirited away by Paulina to protect her from Leontes' wrath. The Steward Rogero notes that Paulina visited the removed house twice or thrice daily since the death of Hermione. Leontes observes that the statue is so much wrinkled, unlike the Hermione he remembers. Paulina claims the age-progression attests to the carver's excellence, making her look as if she lived now. However, the action of scene 3.2 calls this rational explanation into question. Hermione swoons upon hearing news of Mamillius' death and is rushed from the room. Paulina returns bearing the news of Hermione's death after a short monologue from Leontes. Leontes demands to be led toward the dead bodies of his queen and son. He orders them interred together in one grave. Later events never call this order into question. Other critics argue the play contains geographical impossibilities like a seacoast in Bohemia. Ben Jonson ridiculed the presence of a desert and coast in landlocked Bohemia. Shakespeare followed Greene's source in giving Bohemia a coast while reversing character locations. Jonathan Bate suggests the court of King James was politically allied with Rudolf II. This alliance may have prompted the reversal for political sensitivity during Princess Elizabeth's wedding. Andrew Gurr argues Bohemia received a seacoast to flout geographical realism. John A. Pitcher describes the coast as a joke akin to jokes about a Swiss Navy.
The earliest recorded performance of The Winter's Tale appeared in Simon Forman's journal on the 11th of May 1611. Forman noted he saw the play at the Globe playhouse. The production then performed before King James at Court on the 5th of November 1611. It also acted at Whitehall during festivities preceding Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Frederick V on the 14th of February 1613. Later Court performances occurred on the 7th of April 1618, the 18th of January 1623, and the 16th of January 1634. The play did not revive during the Restoration unlike many other Shakespearean plays. In 1741 it appeared at Goodman's Fields Theatre and in 1742 at Covent Garden. Adaptations titled The Sheep-Shearing and Florizal and Perdita acted at Covent Garden in 1754 and Drury Lane in 1756. Notable stagings in the 19th century included those featuring John Philip Kemble in 1811 and Samuel Phelps in 1845. Charles Kean produced an elaborate 1856 version famous for its sets and costumes. Johnston Forbes-Robertson played Leontes memorably in 1887. Herbert Beerbohm Tree took on the role of Leontes in 1906. One of the best remembered modern productions was staged by Peter Brook in London in 1951 with John Gielgud as Leontes. The Guthrie Theater presented a Minneapolis production in the 1976-1977 season directed by Michael Langham. David Jones launched his new theatre company at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1980 with Brian Murray starring as Leontes.
Numerous film versions exist including a 1910 silent film and a 1961 television film starring Robert Shaw. A 1967 version starred Laurence Harvey as Leontes. An orthodox BBC production televised in 1981 was produced by Jonathan Miller and directed by Jane Howell. French director Eric Rohmer references the play during a sequence in his 1992 film A Tale of Winter. Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a full-length ballet with music by Joby Talbot. This ballet premiered in Royal Opera House in London in 2014 as a co-production between The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada. Author Jeanette Winterson published The Gap of Time, a modern adaptation, on the 1st of May 2016. E. K. Johnston published Exit, Pursued by a Bear, another modern adaptation that same year. BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 broadcast an audio production directed by David Hunter featuring Danny Sapani as Leontes. An opera by Ryan Wigglesworth based on the play premiered at English National Opera on the 27th of February 2017. Melbourne Shakespeare Company produced an abridged musical production directed by Jennifer Sarah Dean at Central Park in 2021. Recent productions include those by Theatre for a New Audience Off-Broadway in 2018 and performances at Shakespeare's Globe in London in both 2018 and 2023.
The play was not published until the First Folio of 1623. Most critics believe it is one of Shakespeare's later works possibly written in 1610 or 1611. A 1611 date gains support from Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon performed at Court on the 1st of January 1611. That masque included a dance of ten or twelve satyrs. The Winter's Tale includes a dance of twelve men costumed as satyrs. Arden editor J.H.P. Pafford found language style and spirit point to a late date. Tangled speech packed sentences and high percentage of light endings mark Shakespeare's writing at the end of his career. In the late 18th century Edmond Malone suggested a book listed in Stationers Register on the 22nd of May 1594 might have been Shakespeare's work. No copy of that book exists today. Dr Samuel A Tannenbaum wrote in 1933 that Malone assigned dates ranging from 1604 to 1613 before settling on 1610-11. Hunter assigned it to about 1605. The play appears last among comedies in the First Folio following Twelfth Night which ends with blank recto page. This suggests hesitation regarding where The Winter's Tale belonged at time of printing. Many modern editors now label the play one of Shakespeare's late romances.
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Common questions
What is the source material for The Winter's Tale?
The play The Winter's Tale draws its main plot from Robert Greene's pastoral romance Pandosto, published in 1588. Shakespeare made uncharacteristically slight changes to the source material while maintaining fidelity that gives the play its distinctive sixteen-year gap between acts.
When was the earliest recorded performance of The Winter's Tale?
The earliest recorded performance of The Winter's Tale appeared in Simon Forman's journal on the 11th of May 1611 at the Globe playhouse. Subsequent performances included a showing before King James at Court on the 5th of November 1611 and another at Whitehall during festivities preceding Princess Elizabeth's marriage on the 14th of February 1613.
Why does The Winter's Tale feature a seacoast in Bohemia?
Shakespeare followed Greene's source in giving Bohemia a coast while reversing character locations, which Ben Jonson ridiculed as a geographical impossibility. Andrew Gurr argues this choice flouted geographical realism, while Jonathan Bate suggests the reversal may have been prompted by political sensitivity regarding King James's alliance with Rudolf II.
How many years pass between the third and fourth acts of The Winter's Tale?
A sixteen-year gap exists between the third and fourth acts of The Winter's Tale, violating the Classical Unities introduced in 16th-century Italy based on Aristotle's work. This gap is the most distinctive feature of the play compared to its source material Pandosto.
When was The Winter's Tale first published?
The play The Winter's Tale was not published until the First Folio of 1623. Most critics believe it is one of Shakespeare's later works possibly written in 1610 or 1611, supported by evidence from Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon performed at Court on the 1st of January 1611.