Winters tale- ideas

Question 1

Allusion to Pygmalion and Galatea

Answer 1

Known for his hatred of woman kind, Pygmalion famously sculpted his perfect woman, a beautiful, silent and submissive stone figure who he named Galatea. In this reading, the statue becomes not an idolisation of hermione but a sanitisation, a ‘cold’ removal of the qualities Leonties previously found undesirable of ‘too hot’ in his wife.

Question 2

Key metalanguage (accross all passages to atleast consider)

Answer 2

Antanaclasis is a rhetorical device where a word or phrase is repeated in a sentence, but its meaning changes with each occurrence.
**Epizeuxis **is a rhetorical device characterized by the immediate repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis or vehemence.
Prose vs verse dialogue
pastoral imagery
nostalgic tone
biblical allusions + language
+classical allusions
alliteration (plosive + sibilant)/ clipped assonance+ fricative. Alliterative pairings
Imagery of decay
language of deciet
Hyperbole
Graphic sexual imagery
Militaristic/ combative imagery
Debasing language + insuts
Imperative
repetition
Defiant/ assertive tone
Setting: Leontes’ court
Iambic pentrameter (trial scene)
cataloguing
Maternal imagery
characterisation: virtue vs tyranny
Motief–> disease/ infection
chaotic + visceral imagery
Anaphora
Personification
Antithesis + parallelisms
Tonal shift
Dramatic irony
motief of seasons
Foreshadowing
Praising language
spiritual imagery
character growth + role reversal
iterative patterns
similies
stage directions
symbolism
Motief of hands

Question 3

What do Jacobean audiences value

Answer 3

Divine Right Of Kings (god selected kings, so disobeying king = sacrilege)
Great Chain of Being (social hierarchy very important –> altering one’s place in society = offend God + punishable by death)
Witchcraft punishable by death
women should be delcate caring, obedient- have kids, subservient
Men = dominant sex + must provide can vote, mascultinity important
Darkness symbolises evil

Question 4

What do feminist audiences value

Answer 4

Feminists value gender equality, intersectionality, and the elimination of sexism and patriarchal structures. They advocate for equal rights, opportunities, and respect for all individuals, regardless of gender.

Question 5

General thesus for 1st half of play

Answer 5

In the first half of the play, the catastrophic breakdown of social order resulting from Leontes’s tyranny contradicts Jacobean ideals of stability, culminating in widespread suffering and death. However, a feminist reading critiques the overshadowing of female voices throughout this crisis, highlighting deeply entrenched gender inequalities that remain unaddressed.

Question 6

General thesus for 2nd half of the play

Answer 6

In the second half of the play, the Jacobean emphasis on reconciliation is embraced as a catalyst for restoring patriarchal order, echoing the era’s androcentric values. However, from a feminist perspective, this resolution proves deeply disappointing by reaffirming a patriarchal social structure rather than achieving genuine equality.

Question 7

Taught and other vocab words to use

Answer 7

Diatribe
Engender
Halcyon
Homosocial
Munificence (generous action)
Prelapsarian (ideal before fall of man)
Repudiate (reject)
Salacious (too detailed sexually)
Bubolic (Countryside)
Mercurial (capricous- change mind frequently)
Negate (invalidate)
Reproach
Sanctification (deify)
iniquitous (groslsy unfair/ morally wrong)
ineluctable (inescapable)
anagnorisis (point of play where main character understands truth about circumstances- ignorance to knowledge)