The Winter's Tale

The Roles and Influence of Florizel and Perdita in

According to G. Blakemore Evans, the first three acts of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale are based on the novel Pandosta by Robert Greene published in 1588 (1564). Three things that are similar in both versions of the tale are that they both take place in Bohemia and Sicilia, both tales center around the jealousy of a king, and both tales give Bohemia a fictional coastline (Evans 1564). Shakespeare's play, however, is much more optimistic and more than just a romance. While he basically explores the redemption of the adults in The Winter's Tale, this redemption cannot be ignored in light of the influences and roles that the children have in bringing about that redemption. This essay will discuss and compare the influences and roles of Florizel, the son of Polixenes, and Perdita, the daughter of Leontes, on the actions of their parents. Specifically, this essay will compare the statement of how Polixenes feels about his son (1.ii.165-171) with the reconciliation type role that Perdita plays in Act V of The Winter's Tale.

As The Winter's Tale opens up, the audience is introduced to the two countries (I.i) and their heads of state, King Leontes of Sicilia and King Polixenes of Bohemia (I.ii). These are two men who call one another "brother" (I.ii.4, 15), having grown up and trained together (I.ii.61-64). Additionally, the audience discovers that both men have sons of approximatel

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him to the point where he forcibly separates Hermione from Mamillus and sends Hermione to jail despite her pregnant condition and protests of innocence (II.i.33-125). As a result, Hermione goes into early labor and has a daughter, whom Leontes refuses to acknowledge and sends to be left in the wilderness to die (II.ii). When news from the oracle returns claiming that Hermione is innocent, he again refuses to listen, forcing his own opinion over the knowledge of the gods. His son, Mamillus, ends up dead from the stress of losing his mother and Hermione is pronounced dead upon hearing of the death of her son and banishment of her daughter (III.i). Only then does Leontes understand how mistaken he has been and begin to regret how his jealousy has destroyed his life and killed or alienated those he loved most in the world (III.ii.232-42). All of this set Leontes up for his redemption at the end of the play. However, whereas Polixenes has the joy and constancy of his son's love and effect upon him everyday as seen in his speech at the beginning, Leontes' reconciliation and redemption will be much more grand and much more of spectacle since he sinned so greatly. In Act V, Perdita, which means lost little girl (The Literature Ne

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