The Importance of Time in Shakespeares The Winters Tale Essay

The Importance of duration in The Winters Tale Leon. No cornerstone shall stir. Paul. Music, awake her strike Music Tis snip descend be stone no more approach Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come Ill encounter your grave up stir, nay, come away Bequeath to death your emotionlessness for from him Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs --The Winters Tale (V.iii.98-103) Unlike most of Shakespeares early plays, The Winters Tale moves from tragedy to comedy. The disastrous consequences of Leontes jealousy and tyranny are resolved by the passing of time. Only after sixteen years cigarette the two royal families come together again. Time also plays a significant role in the reading of the chosen passage. The passage is fully of commas, colons, semi-colons, and periods, which force the margins to be slowed and pausing. The frequent punctuations draw the readers attention to time and its do on the words being spoken by the characters. The scansion of the pass age illustrates Shakespeares statement of time as he manipulates the rhythm of the lines using varying foots and meters. Time seems to be the crucial element in not only the scansion of this passage, save in the development of the play as a whole. Line ninety-eight begins with a half-line consisting of only two feet, No foot shall stir. The brevity of the line and the slowness of the opening spondee help to create the tension before Paulina attempts to tantalize the statue of Hermione. Leontes wants everyone to stand still while Paulina tries to give life to the statue. He says, No foot shall stir (98). Meanwhile, the metrical feet in line ninety-eight do stir as the pentameter is broken up into two ha... ...vidual from imminent danger. When time is misused or misjudged, as seen in Leontes hasty accusations and also in Antigonus tardiness in returning to the ship, Time can lead to utter destruction. kit and boodle Cited Gomez, Michelle. A History of Clocks. Onl ine posting. 4 Mar. 2001. Shakespeare, William. The Winters Tale. Ed. J.H.P. Pafford. London Routledge, 1994. Works Consulted Bloom, Harold. The Winters Tale (Modern decisive Interpretations). Chelsea House Publishers, 1992. Granville Barkers Prefaces to Shakespeare A Midsummer Nights Dream The Winters Tale The Tempest. Granville Barker. Heinemann, 1994. Innes, Sheila. The Winters Tale (Cambridge prepare Shakespeare). Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pyle, Fitzroy. The Winters Tale A Commentary on the Structure. New York Routledge & Paul, 1969.