Shakespeare the Bodger: Ingenuity, Imitation and the Arts of The Winter's Tale
Joel B. Altman
Published:
2023
Online ISBN:
9781399508438
Print ISBN:
9781399508414
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Shakespeare the Bodger: Ingenuity, Imitation and the Arts of The Winter's Tale
Joel B. Altman
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Joel B. Altman
Pages
165–196
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Published:
February 2023
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Altman, Joel B., '“A sad tale’s best for winter,” but for spring a comedy is better: Time, Turn, and Genre(s) in The Winter’s Tale', Shakespeare the Bodger: Ingenuity, Imitation and the Arts of The Winter's Tale (
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Abstract
This chapter directly addresses the fact that Shakespeare changes literary genres mid-way through The Winter’s Tale, turning from a serious domestic drama to seeming tragedy in the third act when Hermione is on trial for adultery and the Oracle speaks. Then the scene shifts to Bohemia, where Antigonus is charged with disposing of the baby, but is chased by a hungry bear, and the genre further modulates from tragedy to farcical comedy. The chapter goes on to suggest that Time is Shakespeare’s “play doctor,” who turns potential tragedy to romantic intrigue comedy in the treatment of Perdita and Florizel. There is a suggestion that the eccentric generic structure of the play is deliberate. Shakespeare had experimented with tragicomic structures before, in All’s Well and Measure for Measure, but now clearly follows the examples of Giraldi Cinzio and Baptista Guarini in composing his own tragedia di fin lieto.
Keywords: Provenance, Genre, Tragicomedy
Subject
Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
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