Winters Tale by William Shakespeare

Question: Look at the background of the text Winter's Tale. What is going on historically in the era that the book is written in.

The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies other have deemed it romantic.

Shakespeare wrote The Winter's Tale in late 1610 or early 1611. The play's first known performance was at the Globe Theatre on May 15, 1611. The actual date is unknown.What most critics do agree upon is that the style and themes of The Winter's 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. Due to the surrounding circumstances within the play critics have concluded the era it was written.

The Winter's Tale most distinctive feature is the sixteen-year gap between the third and fourth acts. It was as though Shakespare was trying to encompass the renaissance in his play writing.

Little is known about the reactions of seventeenth-century audiences and critics to The Winter's Tale. Simon Forman wrote the first known account of the play in the form of a journal entry in which he summarizes the play's plot. The play was written during the Elizabethan era which was a golden age in England. William Shakespeare’s writing was at its peak and so was literature and fine arts in England. During the era the book was written England’s culture which includes fine arts and entertainment. The reconstruction of the globe theater also gave rise to popular entertainment. Even though during this period King James regined England the Elizabethian era was very much alive and still thriving.

Critical commentary center on the play's combination of tragic, comic, and pastoral elements; on the debate between art and nature in the play; and on the dramatic effect and meaning of Hermione's restoration.  According to some critics the pastoral and comic elements of the play help to alleviate the tragic aspects; others argue that the pastoral elements are dark and disturbing in many ways. Two scenes in the play focus specifically on the art versus nature controversy: Act IV, scene iv, in which Polixenes and Perdita discuss the merits of cross breeding or grafting in flowers; and Act V, scene iii, where the "statue" of Hermione is revealed to be Hermione herself. These scenes are either read as evidence that Shakespeare was arguing that art is nature or, alternatively, that art is necessary to "mend" or perfect nature. In the last scene of the play, Paulina presents Hermione's statue and commands her to "descend" and reveal herself. Some commentators view this scene and the fact that Hermione has concealed herself for sixteen years as highly unlikely. They assert that Hermione's restoration was a cheap stage trick, designed to delight the audience but possessing little literary value. Others stress that Hermione's concealment is entirely justified and that her restoration at the play's end is moving and significant.