The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare | Introduction & Overview

The Winter's Tale Introduction

Most scholars agree that Shakespeare wrote The Winter's Tale in late 1610 or early 1611. The play's first known performance occurred at the Globe Theatre on May 15, 1611. Scholars have made speculative attempts at a more accurate dating of the play's composition, but such theories have not gained widespread acceptance. What most critics do agree upon is that the style and themes of The Winters Tale clearly link the play to Shakespeare's other late romances. They conclude that The Winter's Tale is therefore a product of Shakespeare's final period of play writing, and that the play was most likely composed after Cymbeline, which is believed to have been written in 1609-10.

The primary source for The Winter's Tale is a novel by Robert Green entitled Pandosto; or, The Triumph of Time, which was first published in 1588. The novel was reprinted a number of times after 1607 as...
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