TWINNED LAMBS

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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Polixenes’s description of his childhood friendship with Leontes is probably the most famous
example of imagery in The Winter’s Tale. According to Polixenes, when they played together as
innocent young boys, they were like “twinn’d lambs that did frisk i’ the sun,” which is a very
sweet way to describe the innocence and joy of a carefree childhood friendship between two
boys. It also implies that Polixenes and Leontes were so close that they were practically identical
(“twinn’d”). By the way, this is also a simile, which compares one thing directly to another. As in,
the boys were like lambs.

So, you’re probably thinking, “Aww, what a sweet way for Polixenes to talk about his best
childhood bud.” Well, we might want to rethink this because Polixenes’s lovely description of the
nearly identical boys gives way to something darker:

We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun,

And bleat the one at the other: what we changed

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not

The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd

That any did.

Had we pursued that life,

And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd

With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven

Boldly 'not guilty;' the imposition clear'd

Hereditary ours. (1.2.10)

What’s interesting is that Polixenes claims that he and Leontes would not even have been
“guilty” of original sin if they had remained young and innocent. Note: The doctrine of “ill doing”
(a.k.a. “original sin”) is the idea that all human beings are born tainted because Adam and Eve
sinned in the Garden of Eden, according to the Bible’s book of Genesis. In other words, Polixenes
suggests that he and Leontes would have remained totally innocent if they hadn’t grown up to
become interested in sex (“stronger blood” means “sexual passion”) and girls (like Hermione and
Polixenes’s wife). This implies that sexual relationships with women mark the end of childhood
and are probably the reason why Polixenes and Leontes aren’t as close as they once were.
THE BEAR

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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

If you’re like us, you were probably completely blown away when that bear ran out and chased
Antigonus across the stage before devouring the poor guy (3.3). Yep, that’s pretty random
alright, and to tell you the truth, we’re not quite sure what to make of it (except to say that
Shakespeare obviously has a sense of humor). So, let’s think about this for a minute by reviewing
some popular interpretations of the incident:

Option 1: Lots of people think that Antigonus gets mauled by a bear because he’s just done a
really horrible thing – dumped off baby Perdita in the middle of nowhere. It certainly seems
reasonable to assume that Antigonus suffers from bad karma. On the one hand, however, we
could also point out that Leontes has got some pretty bad karma too but he’s never mauled by a
wild animal.

Option 2: Leontes’s bad behavior brings us to our second option. According to some critics, the
bear is a symbol of Leontes’s wrath, which means that Antigonus isn’t so much a villain as a
victim. He’s bullied into ditching Perdita by Leontes and the bear mauling is just another version
of Antigonus being attacked by a ferocious figure.

Option 3: Alternatively, some literary critics have pointed out that the whole bear mauling
incident seems to echo fertility rites myths. As literary critic Jean E. Howard tells us in her
introduction to the Norton edition of the play (2008), these kinds of fertility rites usually involve
some poor old guy being sacrificed in order to usher in the spring season (think “out with the old
and in with the new”) and bring about some sort of sexual fulfillment.

Option 4: The bear mauling isn’t symbolic of anything. It’s just Shakespeare’s way of having fun
and making reference to a popular sixteenth- and seventeenth-century blood sport (bear baiting
– when bears are chained up and set upon by a pack of dogs). Bear baiting took place in the
same neighborhood as Shakespeare’s plays and there are references to it all over his work, so
this definitely seems like a good option.
THE SEASONS

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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Winter

We discuss this in “Setting,” but it’s worth mentioning here as well. The first half of The Winter’s
Tale is set in King Leontes’s Sicilian court during the cold winter months. We know that it’s
winter, by the way, because Mamillius tells his mother “A sad tale's best for winter” (2.1.7) after
she asks him for a story. The frigid season seems completely appropriate in a court where
Leontes’s cold-hearted behavior destroys his family and brings about the worst kind of suffering
imaginable.

Spring/Summer

In the second half of the play (which occurs sixteen years later), the Sicilian winter gives way to
the Bohemian countryside during the spring or summer (it’s not entirely clear). The spring and
summer seasons, as we know, are frequently associated with life and renewal and life (especially
because they come on the heels of the cold and harsh winter months). Fittingly, Bohemia is a
festive world that’s full of youthful spirit and possibility. This is where we meet the lovely young
Perdita, who resembles Flora, goddess of flowers. Bohemia is also where Florizel’s and Perdita’s
young love blossoms and just about anything seems possible, especially during the colorful
sheep-shearing festival.

When the young Bohemian cast (Florizel and Perdita) travel to Sicily in Act 5, the “cold” Sicilian
landscape is dramatically altered. Leontes says, “Welcome hither, / As is the spring to the earth
[…] The blessed gods / Purge all infection from the air / Whilst you / Do climate here” (5.1.13-
15). Leontes, whose been suffering a winter-like existence in Sicily for sixteen long years,
suggests that Florizel’s presence is like the arrival of spring after a long, cold, harsh winter.
What’s more, Florizel and Perdita’s youthful presence seems to have a healing effect on the king
and his ailing court, which never really recovered from the deaths of Hermione and Mamillius
and the loss of baby Perdita. So, we might say that Florizel and Perdita bring with them the spirit
of spring/summer and inject the play with love, warmth, and the spirit of forgiveness.
TIME
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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

At the beginning of Act 4, Time, a winged figure with an hourglass, appears on stage. Time is an
allegory. (An allegory is a kind of extended metaphor that’s weaved throughout a poem or play
in which objects, persons, and actions stand for another meaning. In this case, Time stands for,
well, time.) Because Time announces that the play has fast-forwarded sixteen years into the
future and tells us that the setting has changed from Sicily to Bohemia, where Perdita has grown
up, Time is also acting the part of a Chorus (kind of like a narrator).

During his speech, Time apologizes to the audience for all of this: “Impute it not a crime / To me
or my swift passage, that I slide / O'er sixteen years and leave the growth untried / Of that wide
gap” (4.1.1). Translation: “Don’t be mad that the play has skipped ahead sixteen years.” Why is
Time apologizing? Well, flash forwards and major setting changes were a big no-no on the
English stage in Shakespeare’s day because they disregarded the “classical unities” (of time,
place, and action), a set of literary rules that said all plays should have the following features: 1)
the action should take place within a 24 hour time span; 2) the action should take place in one
geographical place/setting; 3) the play should have one main plot and no sub-plots. The Winter’s
Tale pretty clearly breaks all of these rules (as did many other Shakespeare plays).
HERMIONE'S STATUE

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Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

The statue of Hermione is one of the most controversial issues in the play. By the time Paulina
invites everyone to see Hermione’s life-like statue in the play’s final act, Hermione has been
presumed dead for the past sixteen years. (Remember, Paulina announces that she’s died of a
broken heart back at 3.2.3). This is why everyone (especially Leontes and Perdita) is so shocked
to see that an artist has created such a realistic and stunning statue. (The artists even seem to
have taken into account how Hermione would have aged over the years.) Everyone is even more
shocked and amazed when Paulina calls for some dramatic music and says “Tis time. Descend.
Be stone no more” (5.3.11) and Hermione (who is very much alive) steps down from the
pedestal and gives Leontes a hug. Clearly, this is a pretty dramatic and moving scene, for the
characters and the audience.

The problem is this: it’s not entirely clear if Hermione is somehow brought back from the dead,
or if she’s been alive the whole time. Some critics argue that Hermione is magically and
miraculously resurrected when her long lost daughter (Perdita) returns to her. Others argue that
Paulina just hid Hermione away for sixteen years so that 1) Leontes wouldn’t hurt her and 2) she
could teach Leontes a lesson. There’s enough evidence in the play to argue either way. So, what
do you think? Is this magic, or is it just Paulina’s parlor trick?