Source: "We Must Be Gentle: Disintegration and Reunion in 'The Winter's Tale,'" in Shakespeare's Pastoral Comedy, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972, pp. 122-45.
[In this essay, McFarland traces Shakespeare's treatment of pastoral elements in The Winter's Tale . McFarland identifies the ways in which the normally light and carefree pastoral vision is undercut by sadness and ambivalence throughout the play. The first several acts of the play focus on death, attack childhood happiness, and present Shakespeare's emphasis on "human faithlessness," McFarland argues, wile the pastoral scenes offer the possibility that society can be reconciled and restored to happiness.]
"A sad tale's best for winter." The melancholy words of the doomed child Mamillius (2.1.25) set the tone, and ordain the comic reality; of The Winter's T ale For demonic forces are loose within.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 7,000 words. This
study guide contains 41,107 words (approx. 137 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Winter's Tale Access Pass.
