Friday, December 12, 2008
A (Disappointing) Winter's Tale
I really did not enjoy A Winter's Tale very much in comparison to the other plays. It seemed so unfinished and almost juvenile in comparison to all of Shakespeare's other plays. The rest have so much depth--there's a reason that they've stuck around for so long. A Winter's Tale is missing that "it-factor" which the other plays have, and I think that that is why it is less well-known. If it had been an earlier play, it would have made more sense; there would be a possible excuse of Shakespeare being young and needing to grow into his writing more. But this play was written near the end of his life, and it seems to me like he didn't put forth much effort. While the story itself isn't terrible, where is the deeper meaning? Where is the development of characters' motives? While A Midsummer Night's Dream was probably the most similar in tone to this play, even it had the exploration of love and what it really means. This play doesn't seem to have even an attempt at anything other than an enjoyable couple of hours for the audience. While I'm sure it did accomplish that goal, I guess I've just come to expect more from a Shakespearean play than that.
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2 comments:
I kind of have to agree with you. A Winter's Tale seems to have plot lines and characters going all over the place. But I think you can still see the backbone of a story that Shakespeare laid down. This makes me wonder though. Did Shakespeare really write A Winter’s Tale? Though I am no expert, it seems reasonable to assume that he certainly did write at least some of it, but what if, as Professor Britland seemed to imply in lecture, some of the major plot changes and story line contortions happened AFTER the play was originally written. Maybe it was Shakespeare himself who made changes. It just seems that whatever the case, A Winter’s Tale is certainly not written in the same style and fluidity of Shakespeare’s other plays.
I agree with you. A Winter's Tale just didn't have the appeal that a lot of Shakespeare's other plays have. I guess that's on of the reasons why many people aren't familiar with it, because truly he has many other better works besides this one. I though it was interesting that he made so many references to Greek plays and culture, but just like those, it tended to be very strange and all over the place. Whether or not it was his intention to be so all over the place is debatable, but overall this definitely wasn't as good as his others.
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