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  • The Winter's Tale: Third Series by William Shakespeare book cover
  • The Winter's Tale: Third Series by William Shakespeare book cover
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The Winter's Tale: Third Series

by William Shakespeare

Jealousy, pastoral comedy and theatrical transformation

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Jealousy, pastoral comedy and theatrical transformation

Shakespeare’s play moves from Leontes’ suspicion of Hermione and its severe consequences to a pastoral second half centered on Perdita, the daughter separated from her family. The contrast between these parts is central to this Arden Shakespeare edition: John Pitcher’s introduction and commentary examine how the play brings different theatrical forms together and how it has worked in performance. The source describes the play as a tragi-comedy, with reconciliation and Hermione’s apparent return shaping its final movement.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers studying Shakespearean drama and its theatrical forms
  • Readers seeking an edition with an introduction and commentary
  • Readers interested in plays that combine tragic and pastoral-comic elements

Themes

Jealousy and suspicionFamily separation and reunionTragic and pastoral-comic formsTheatrical performance

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

One of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.

John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.

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