Quotes & Possible Essay Questions for The Winter's Tale

Quotations:

1. "I have tremor cordis on me; my heart dances, / But not for joy, not joy." 1.2 (Leontes)

2. ". . . I am sure ’tis safer to / Avoid what’s grown than question how ’tis born." 1.2 (Camillo)

3. "A sad tale’s best for winter; I have one / Of sprites and goblins." 2.1 (Mamillius)

4. "I never wished to see you sorry; now / I trust I shall." 2.1 (Hermione)

5. "Antigonus, I charged thee that she should not come about me; / I knew she would." 2.3 (Leontes)

6. "It is yours: / And might we lay the old proverb to your charge, / So like you ’tis the worse." 2.3 (Paulina)

7. "I am a feather for each wind that blows." 2.3 (Leontes)

8. "My life stands in the level of your dreams . . ." 3.2 (Hermione)

9. "Now bless thyself; thou met’st with things dying, I with things new born." 3.3 (Shepherd)

10. ". . . it was told me I should be rich by the fairies. This is some changeling . . ." 3.3 (Shepherd)

11. ". . . he, sir, he; that’s the rogue that put me into this apparel." 4.3 (Autolycus)

12. "Daffodils, / That come before the swallow dares, and take / The winds of March with beauty . . ." 4.4 (Perdita)

13. "Each your own doing, / So singular in each particular, / Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds, / That all your acts are Queens." 4.4 (Florizel)

14. "From my succession wipe me, father, I / Am heir to my affection." 4.4 (Florizel)

15. "Besides, you know, / Prosperity’s the very bond of love . . ." 4.4 (Camillo)

16. ". . . if I thought it were a piece of honesty to acquaint the King withal, I would not do’t." 4.4 (Autolycus)

17. "Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance." 4.4 (Autolycus)

18. "That once, I see by your good father’s speed, / Will come on very slowly." 5.1 (Leontes)

19. "If this be magic, let it be an art / Lawful as eating." 5.3 (Leontes)

Possible Essay Questions:

1. Discuss the romance (define the term as part of your answer and resist the temptation to use the word Harlequin) elements in The Winter’s Tale.

2. Discuss the two "almost" tragedies in The Winter’s Tale and why their endings are happy rather than sad.

3. Discuss jealousy as a theme in The Winter’s Tale. Is the emotion causeless and irrational? Why or why not? What is the wrong turning that leads to jealousy and what is the way back?

4. Discuss courtly love in The Winter’s Tale.

5. Discuss the themes of innocence and redemption in The Winter’s Tale.

6. Discuss the role of women in Shakespeare’s plays with happy endings. Why is it that women seem to shape the course of beneficent events? Is there any relationship between this and courtly love?

7. Discuss the structure of The Winter’s Tale. In what way has Shakespeare used romance, fantasy and internal wonder to unify the play and involve the audience with it?

8. Discuss the BBC production of The Winter’s Tale.