There are two scenes in The Winter's Tale in which the debate between art and nature is dramatized. One is in Act IV, scene iv, when Polixenes and Perdita discuss the merits of the horticultural art of grafting flowers to create hybrids. The other scene is the last scene of the play, in which Hermione's "statue" is revealed to be Hermione herself. Edward William Tayler examines in detail the exchange between Polixenes and Perdita. In his interpretation of Polixenes's argument, Tayler explains that to Polixenes, art is nature, that when one speaks of art perfecting nature, what is really meant is that nature perfects itself. Tayler shows that Perdita argues against the deceitful and artificial elements of an. Both speakers, Tayler notes, argue against their best interests. Polixenes does not want his royal son to marry.....
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