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Cristina León Alfar (essay date 2003)

SOURCE: Alfar, Cristina León. “The Neurotic Subject of Tragedy: Fantasies of Female Evil in The Winter's Tale.” In Fantasies of Female Evil: The Dynamics of Gender and Power in Shakespearean Tragedy, pp. 163-85. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2003.

[In the following essay, Alfar discusses Leontes as the embodiment of the tyranny of masculinist absolute rule and the commoditization of women. By challenging Leontes's patrilineal sovereignty, the critics avers, Hermione and Paulina represent “fantasies of female evil” who threaten the very underpinnings of the patriarchal order through their perceived adultery and rebellion. Alfar concludes that Shakespeare rejected “monarchical and conjugal tyranny” through the generic transformation of The Winter's Tale from a potentially violent and destructive tragedy to a romance that points to an optimistic future of...

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1. Introduction
2. Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
   1. Aaron Kitch (essay date 2001)
   2. Simon C. Estok (essay date 2003)
3. Criticism: Character Studies
   1. B. J. Sokol (essay date 1994)
   2. Travis Curtright (essay date September 2002)
   3. Cristina León Alfar (essay date 2003)
4. Criticism: Production Reviews
   1. Vincent Canby (review date 2 June 1995)
   2. Robert Brustein (review date 17 July 1995)
   3. David Jays (review date 15 January 1999)
   4. Susannah Clapp (review date 27 May 2001)
   5. Judith Flanders (review date 8 June 2001)
   6. Alastair Macaulay (review date 16 April 2002)
5. Criticism: Themes
   1. Jennifer Richards (essay date 1999)
   2. Kirstie Gulick Rosenfield (essay date March 2002)
   3. Maurice Hunt (essay date spring 2004)
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright