The Winter's Tale

Shakespearean Allusions

• Pygmalion: "Statue" scene
• Othello: Jealous paranoia
• Much Ado: Faked death

Essential Questions

• How was Ancient Greek theatre similar to Elizabethan theatre?
• How can we use these similarities to understand "The Winter's Tale"?

Greek Playwrights Wrote For:

• The "citizens" of Greece (rich, voting men)
• Bragging Rights
• Notoriety in the Academic Community

Elizabethan Playwrights Wrote For:

• Men to perform the roles
• Financial and social success in the entertainment industry
• To pay homage to their roots in Ancient Greek theatre

Shakespeare Would've:

• Studied Latin translations of Greek plays
• Read Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides since they were all in circulation

Ben Jonson:

• Had a library of these translations
• More than likely let his frenemy, Bill, borrow them on occassion

Bill was no different than the Grecian Greats!

What does this mean for us?

Oedipus=Fate=
Tiresias=Paulina....

....=Camillo

Antigone=Antigonus

Polyneikes=Polixenes

Coincidence?

Works Cited

• Dewar-Watson, Sarah. “The Alcestis and the Statue Scene in The Winter’s Tale.” Shakespeare Quarterly 60.1 (2009): 73-80. Print.
• Gainor, J. Ellen, Stanton B. Garner Jr. and Martin Puchner. The Norton Anthology of Drama, Volume One: Antiquity Through the Eighteenth Century. Second Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. Print.

Works Cited

• Schleiner, Louise. “Latinized Greek Drama in Shakespeare’s Writing of Hamlet.” Shakespeare Quarterly 41.1 (1990): 29-48. Print.
• Shakespeare, William. “The Winter’s Tale.” William Shakespeare: Complete Works. Ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. China: The Royal Shakespeare Company, 2007. 698-767. Print.

Works Cited

• Sophocles. “Antigone.” The Norton Anthology of Drama, Volume One: Antiquity Through the Eighteenth Century. Second Ed. Ed. J. Ellen Gainor, Stanton B. Garner Jr. and Martin Puchner. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. 186-222. Print.