In the final scene we see that Hermione comes back to life from a statue form. And in the end, King Leontes accepts that it is really her, accepting her back as his beloved wife. This is a great contrast to the very first act, where Leontes chooses not to accept Hermione and her truth as it truly is. Thus he rejects her and so happens the whole mess. The importance of this contrast gives to us some deeper meaning s that make Leontes' actions more understandable and also his redemption a greater deal. In each of these moments, Leontes is faced with a choice. He can choose to act on faith, believing that Hermione really is telling the truth, she is faithful, and in the end that she is truly herself after transforming from the statue. In the beginning, he doesn't act on this leap of faith, thus turning into what we see as an awful tyrant. On the other hand, he makes the opposite choice, choosing to act on faith which leads him and his family to be presumably happy.
I think this is where we can find that this story applies to everyone. When we act on faith, we are happy and those around us are positively affected by our happiness. When we choose not to act on faith, we are miserable and we cause those around us to be miserable as well. So really, to me, it isn't so much the question of whether Hermione coming back to life was a stretch of imagination or a secretive doing by Paulina, but it is supposed to portray a core truth about faith and acting on faith.
The idea of comparing the two scenes, Act 1 and Act 5, and many of the ideas I voice here root from an article I found called, "Visual and Ethical Truth in 'The Winter's Tale'" by James Knapp. It can be found at the following link:
http://search.proquest.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/iipa/docview/1808599/A4DC894B6C3F4593PQ/7?accountid=4488
I like the way you presented Leontes' development of faith by showing the parallel between the first act and the last act. That really does help tie the play together if you look at it that way. Leontes definitely did let his jealousy overcome his faith at the beginning of the play, so it makes sense that he would have to sacrifice his logic (and perhaps a little bit of his dignity) to have the faith to imagine that the statue really is Hermione.
ReplyDeleteI like how the analysis you did shows a more complex development of Leontes' character, instead of a more surface observation of his moving from just jealousy to guilt. The acceptance of the statue on faith shows his more trusting nature that he has developed after all of the mistakes of the winter.
ReplyDeleteI love the picture choice on this one. This is a very interesting perspective. It's interesting that Leontes must act on faith after being so totally driven by jealousy. I agree with many of the posts on this blog because this is definitely a more complex play than the two we've read prior to this play. This turn from hatred and jealousy to faith certainly gives some sort of moral about the consequences of actions, both good and bad.
ReplyDeleteI had never really thought of it this way. Rather than viewing Leontes and his actions as simply tyrannical, looking at his tyranny as a result of his choice to let faith fall away.
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