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Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare
Monthly Archives: January 2014
“Music awake her; strike./‘Tis time, descend, be stone more. Approach./Strike all that look upon with marvel.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Five, Part One By Dennis Abrams ————————- Act Five: In Sicily, Leontes, still in mourning for Hermione, vows not to marry again without Paulina’s consent. When Florizel and Perdita arrive Leontes is captivated by the young … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, Autolycus, Ceres, drama, entertainment, Florizel and Perdita, Hermione, language, late play, Leontes, literature, nature, Northrop Frye, Ovid, Ovidian, Paulina, Perdita, Proserpina, Pygmalion, romance, Shakespeare, statue, the real world, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act, Thomas Mann, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Underlying all is the one Ovidian myth that –beyond all others — informs the play: the story of Proserpina…”
The Winter’s Tale Act Four, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ———————— From Marjorie Garber: “At the act of act 3, however, these latent revivals are far from evident, and the barrenness of time in Sicilia appears in marked contrast with … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Four, Autolycus, Comedy, Dis, drama, entertainment, Florizel, Florizel and Perdita, Hermione, King Polixenes, language, Leontes, literature, myth, nature, Ovid, Perdita, Polixenes, Prince Florizel, Prosperina, Shakespeare, sheepshearing, The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Daffodils,/That come before the swallow dares, and take/The winds of March with beauty…
The Winter’s Tale Act Four, Part One By Dennis Abrams ————————– Act Four: The action is restarted sixteen years later by the figure of time – Perdita has grown up in Bohemia as the daughter of the Shepherd. More recently, … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Four, Autolycus, Bohemia, clown, Comedy, dance, drama, Elizabethan theater, entertainment, Florizel, Hermione, joy, King Leontes, language, literature, nature, pastoral, Perdita, Polixenes, Prince Florizel, romance, Shakespeare, sheep-shearing, Shepherd, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act Four, William Shakespeare
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“No full-length Shakespearian tragedy reaches the intensity of these three acts; they move with a whirling, sickening, speed.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Three, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ———————- First off, some highlights from Mark Van Doren, without the most often used quotes from the play: “’The Winter’s Tale’ tells of grievous divisions between friend and friend (Leontes … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, Hermione, Iago, jealousy, language, Last Plays, late play, Leontes, literature, Mark Van Doren, nature, obsession, Othello, Paulina, Perdita, Polixenes, romance, Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Language, the Shepherd, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act Three, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Exit, pursued by a bear.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Three, Part One By Dennis Abrams —————————- Act Three: Leontes formally accuses Hermione of adultery and plotting to kill him, but she remains firm in her innocence and declares that Apollo will be her judge. But … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, Antigonus, bear, Bohemia, Comedy, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, entertainment, Exit, Hermione, King Polixenes, language, Leontes, literature, Mamillius, Paulina, Perdita, Polixenes, Pursued by a Beat, Queen Hermione, Shakespeare, the Shepherd, The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare, writing
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“A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one/Of sprites and goblins.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Two, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————— G. Wilson Knight had a special feeling for Shakespeare’s late plays, and his writings helped to bring added attention to them. This, from his The Crown of Life: ‘But … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Two, Apollo, Christian, drama, entertainment, G. Wilson Knight, Hermione, jealousy, King Lear, language, Leontes, literature, Macbeth, Mamillius, pagan, Polixenes, Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare, writing
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“I have drunk, and seen the spider.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Two, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————- Act Two: Hermione is with her son Mamillius when Leontes rushes in, having heard of Polixenes’s and Camillo’s escape to Bohemia. Taking this as proof of his former friend’s … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Two, drama, Hermione, Iago, innocence, jealousy, language, Last Plays, late play, Leontes, literature, nature, Othello, Perdita, Polixenes, Richard Lovelace, romance, Shakespeare, spider, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“The larger, unspoken question is – what do we do about, how do we cope with, our inescapable sexuality?”
The Winter’s Tale Act One, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————- From Bloom: “Ideologues do not cluster around The Winter’s Tale, as they do around The Tempest, so neither performance nor commentary is much politicized, even in these bad days. … Continue reading
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Tagged act one, Comedy, drama, entertainment, Hermione, Iago, jealousy, language, Leontes, literature, original sin, Othello, Polixenes, sexuality, Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“What we changed /Was innocence for innocence. We knew not/The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dreamed/That any did.”
The Winter’s Tale Act One, Part One By Dennis Abrams ————————————- MAJOR CHARACTERS Leontes, King of Sicily Hermione, Leonte’s wife Mamillius, their son Perdita, their daughter Camillo, Antigonus, Cleomenes and Dion, lord at Leonte’s court. Paulina, Antigonus’s wife Emilia, Hermione’s … Continue reading
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Tagged act one, Bohemia, drama, entertainment, Hamnet Shakespeare, Hermione, innocence, jealousy, King Leontes, King Polixenes, language, Leontes, literature, Othello, Pandosto, Polixenes, Queen Hermione, Robert Greene, Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, tragedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“We cannot come to the end of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, because every time we achieve a new perspective, other fresh vistas appear that evade our expectations.”
The Winter’s Tale An Introduction By Dennis Abrams —————————– The title may seem all too appropriate given the weather we’ve been having for the last week, but to call something a “winter’s tale” was actually Jacobean slang for something fanciful … Continue reading
The Play's The Thing 