EXAM: The Winter's Tale [feminist lens] Flashcards
CRITIC - Carol Neely
BP1 - WHAT
According to the feminist critic Carol Neely, Leontes’ senseless tyranny stems from the play’s beginning in a “static, barren masculine world that appears determinedly self-sufficient”, cultivating a social order in which any evidence of femininity is immediately antagonised.
BP1
A1S2
Pol’s opening line justifying to L reasoning for soon returning home to B
“Nine changes of the wat’ry star”
This is evident from Polixenes’ opening line when he explains to Leontes, his childhood friend, that he must soon return to Bohemia as it had been “Nine changes of the wat’ry star” since he had left. Accentuated by the feminine symbol of the moon, this connection between the human gestation period, evoked by “Nine changes”, and Polixenes’ duty to his kingdom establishes women’s ability fulfill their maternal role as a pre-requisite for patriarchal order. Yet, Polixenes’ comment also positions women as a severing influence on male boyhood bond, and thus a disruptive presence within androcentric societies.
BP1
A1S2
Pol in convo w/ H → reminiscing on halcyon days w/ L
“twinned lambs that did frisk i’th’sun” + “Temptations have since been born to’s”
In conversation with Hermione, Polixenes expresses his contempt for women when he reminisces on his halcyon days as “twinned lambs that did frisk i’th’sun”, soft and soothing phonic evincing a nostalgic tone, before the two fell prey to “Temptations [that] have since been born to’s [men]” unwillingly. Despite its necessity to continue propagating male patriarchal lineage, Polixenes condemns female sexuality here as a belonging entirely to what the critic Marilyn French calls to the “outlaw feminine principles” - temptation and sin. Furthermore, this biblical allusion to “temptations” in Eve’s original sin illuminates the critical role of classical tropes in antagonising women’s maternal capabilities, as any sex is viewed as tantamount to societal destruction - an extreme and highly tyrannical worldview that manifests in Leontes’ behaviour.
BP1
A1S2
L’s diatribe
“revolted wives” → “tenth of mankind” → “bawdy planet”
Attempting the undermine Hermione’s reputation as a paragon of virture, Leontes condemns the “revolted wives” of the world who have betrayed a “tenth of mankind” and adulterated the entire “bawdy planet”. Through this salacious language and the rapid escalation in the scope of his wrath - not only attacking “wives”, but also the whole “planet” -, women are reduced entirely to being mere sexual tools in danger of ‘revolting’ and corrupting all of society. Ironically, it is Leontes’ ludeness here that corrupts the language of the play and insitigates its fallout.
BP1
A2S1
Antigonus to L, ostensibly in defence of H
“geld” his daughters “shall not bring false generations” if H is guilty + “by mine honour”
This view is not exclusive to Leontes, as Antigonus too conflates fecundity - a sign of what the French’s “inlaw feminine principles” - with the deviant “outlaw”, threatening to “geld” his daughters so they “shall not bring false generation” if Hermione is guilty. This disproportionate and violent reaction is indicative of Antigonus’ resentment of women’s maternal power and the subsequent threat it poses to the “honour” of male lineage if it is not controlled.
(demo injustice in S b/c women punished for men’s paranoid fantasies/pat lineage prioritised > women’s welfare)
BP1
A2S3
L to Pla as she challenges him
“A callat
Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband
And now baits me”
Notably, Paulina - Hermione’s “advocate to the loudest” - strives to expose this flawed conception, but is inevitably defined by these derogatory stereotypes when Leontes names her a “callat of boundless tongue” who “hath late beat her husband” and “now baits” him with his “bastard” child”. Here, the plosive alliteration of Leontes’ vehement denunciation highlights his driving belief that to allow women “boundless” freedom to conceive potentially “bastard” children will “beat” his reputation as a strong masculine ruler.
CRITIC - Marylin French
BP2 - WHAT
However, for French, the very “notion of dividing experience into gender is ‘masculine’” since it “arose as a form of control”. In this way, Bohemia’s simultaneous generosity and violence renders “inlaw” and “outlaw” debate that ruled Sicilia redundant.
BP2
A3S3
Clown recount sinking of Sicilian ship
“boring the moon with her mainmast” while sea around “chafes” and “rages”
For example, following the deaths of Mamillius and Hermione, audiences are transported to the untamed world of Bohemia, where the Clown histrionically recounts the Siclian ship’s final moments before sinking, fruitlessly “boring the moon with her mainmast” while the sea around “chafes” and “rages”. Here, the image of the ship - a vehicle for Leontes’ arrogant persecution of femininity and maternity by facilitating the abandonment of Perdita - metaphorically attempting to “bore” the feminine emblem of the moon exhibits the punitive and hostile power of nature, which seeks to avenge the unjust treatment of women in the play’s first half. Moreover, in contrast to Polixenes’ envisagement of nature as a benevolent force in his idyllic pastoral, its personification as a being that animistically “chafes” and “rages” highlights its latent violence and vitality, revealing the complexity and nuance behind tyrannical patriarchies’ one-dimensional view of women as sexless childbearing vessels.
BP2
A4
Autolycus sings a raunchy song
“When daffodils begin to peer/With heigh the doxy over the dale”
In contrast to Leontes’ contemptuously salacious diatribe in act two, Autolycus, a rogue and petty thief, sings a raunchy song in celebration of “When daffodils begin to peer/With heigh the doxy over the dale” . Through this alliterative conflation of nature and sex - a “doxy” denoting a prostitute -, sex is redefined as playful and fun, posing as a mockery of Sicilia’s sterility.
BP2
A4
Perdita
Florizel’s “father, by some accident/Should pass this way as I did”, guided by the omen of a “good falcon”
The process of labelling women to be entirely ‘inlaw’ or ‘outlaw’ is less seen in Bohemia, as Perdita, who’s role as queen of the sheep-sheering festival again aligns femininity with nature, fears Florizel’s “father, by some accident/Should pass this way as I did”, guided by the omen of a “good falcon”. Resultantly, feminist critics such as French view this acceptance that nature can be simultaneously “malevolent” and “benevolent” as indicative of a degree of gender equality in Bohemia, where women are not immediately archetypically assigned to be sub- or super-human.
BP2
A4
Florizel promises Perdita
“I’ll be thine, my fair,/Or not my father’s”
Florizel disowns his patriarchal identifiers, promising to his beloved Perdita “I’ll be thine, my fair,/Or not my father’s”. Demonstrated by the affectionate connotations of ‘my fair’, Florizel’s authentic display of devotion lends proof to a certain sense of reciprocity and equality in his relationship with Perdita, which is made possible by the balance of good and evil in their environment.
BP2
A4
Perdita entreats the gods
“O Proserpina… letst [flowers]/Fall from Dis’s wagon”
Moreover, not only are natural forces tolerated in Bohemia, but they are worshipped by Perdita when she entreats “O Prosperpina… lets [flowers]/Fall from Dis’s wagon”. In this allusion to the myth of Proserpina, the untamed realm of Bohemia appears to be sustained by the cycles of nature, representing the diversity and depth of the female identity, holding immense untapped live-giving power, beyond limiting stereotypes.
BP2
WHY
Therefore, in a feminist reading of play, the spatial shift to Bohemia stands as a sharp rebuke of tyrannical patriarchal regimes which attempt to negate women and thus nature from their society. Rather, Shakespeare’s interposition of a relatively sexually-liberated, feminine domain serves to demonstrate [the possibility of desire and nature triumphing over duty to human hierarchies/rich opportunities for familial harmony when women are recognised a whole individuals].
CRITIC - PB Erickson
BP3 - WHAT
While Perdita and Florizel’s harmonious relationship seems a feminist utopia, the play’s re-entry into what the critic PB Erickson calls a “benign patriarchy” in Sicilia problematises the extent to which [prompt].
BP3
A5S1
L in convo w/ Pla
H = the “sweet’st companion that e’er man/Bred his hope our of”
No longer the violent target of Leontes’ tyrannical rage, Hermione in memory has been rendered the “sweet’st companion that e’er man/Bred his hope our of”. This objectification of women as simple tools for the sole purpose of “hopes” - heirs - to be “bred” from reveals Leontes’ continued pre-occupation with his own patriarchal lineage, completely ignorant of the benefit of nature in any other process than producing male successors. [t/f L fail recog women = indiv humans despite acknowledgment of their necessity in pat]
