1. What role do
prophecies and the gods play in the story? Cite specific examples from the play
to support your answer
In most Shakespearre
plays, ‘the supernatural’ is a theme
used to bring out an important aspect of the plot. This is no different in
Winter’s Tale as phrophecies,God’s and
religious aspects in general, play a vital role in making the play a
tragicomedy.
Act 3 of the play begins with a dialogue
between Cleomenes and Dion who went to retrieve a prophecy from the oracle in Delphi.
Their conversation brings to us the atmosphere of Delphi as they highlighted
how wonderful and outstanding the island and its religion/temples were (“Fertile the isle, the
temple much surpassing”).
This is in contrast with the events to come as it portrays ‘the calm before the
storm.’ the role of informing readers of the religious atmosphere alone was to
show us the difference between Delphi and Sicilia where there is moral peace
and immoral chaos respectively. In a sense it also foreshadows the oracle’s
decision or the judgement of the God especially when it was said “Great Apollo-Turn all
to the best!”
The prophecy itself plays an extremely
important role. This is because it determines the future acts in relation to
what happens to several characters,especially,Leontes. If it was not for the
oracles prophecy the subsequent actions would not have much meaning since the
false accusations would have continued. Leontes’ search or desire for redemption
(important part of the play) would be unnecessary.
Moreover,the intial role of the prophecy was
to bring justice to Hermione for the loss or damage suffered to her reputation
when she was called “an adulteress,” “a traitor,” “a bed swerver,” and other
dishonourable things too numerous to mention.
In addition,the most obvious role of
the God’s is to make the decision profound,binding and righteous . That way when
Leontes is proven to be wrong it would be believed since it came from such a
divine source. In essence it validates the judgement and makes Leontes seem
more like the ‘jealous tyrant’ that he is.
These religious aspects help to make
the plot of ‘Winter’s Tale’ much more interesting and meaningful. Their role is
to justify and to prove the importance of trust and not being consumed by the destroyer
or relationships known as jealousy.
I enjoyed your Post. However, the jealousy question was not suppose to be in your blog. Good job.
ReplyDelete