Monday 22 October 2012

The Role of Autolycus


     Act 4 begins the “spring(joyful)” aspect of the play. It is where the comedic element of the play is introduced. This comedic portion is juxtaposed with the tragedy in the first three Acts, making the play a tragicomedy. This Act lightens the atmosphere of the play with the use of characters like Clown and Autolycus.
     Autolycus is a peddler who is involved in trickery such as picking pockets. His role in the play is crucial although it is miniscule because he infuses bliss into the hearts of viewers.
     Bringing about this comedic aspect is one of the roles of Autolycus. This is done when he acts as if he had been robbed of his clothes just to pick Clown’s pocket. For even more hilarity he proceeds to describe the robber using the exact features and name that he himself holds. Clown,living up to his name, could not see through Autolycus’s obvious but clever trickery.
     Also,on a more serious note Autolycus helps Perdita and Florizel to escape-His trickeries were not only used for bad but for good. This makes his role vital because without his assistance in the escape of the two lovers, the plot would have been lacking particular components.
     These few acts done by Autolycus makes him a very important character in the play.

1 comment:

  1. Nice points!
    Although it was not wise to say "the plot would have been lacking components" you could have said that "the two lovers would have been unable to freely indulge in their love for each other."

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