The Winter's Tale | Paulina

In the excerpt that follows, Joan Hartwig examines the role of Paulina in the play. Hartwig argues that through the character of Paulina and her relationship to Leontes, the audience's perception of Leontes is favorably adjusted. In the second selection, Myles Hurd assesses Paulina's pivotal role in The Winter's Tale. In participating in the play's action and commenting on major events, Paulina helps to shape the audience's response to other characters and to important scenes in the play, Hurd argues.

Joan Hartwig
[In the excerpt that follows, Hartwig examines the role of Paulina in the play. Hartwig argues that through the character of Paulina and her relationship to Leontes, the audience's perception of Leontes is favorably adjusted. Leontes's jealousy, Hartwig explains, is "completely self-inflicted," and it would be easy for the audience to immediately condemn him. However, Shakespeare places Paulina and Leontes in the stock character roles of "shrew" and "tyrant." Hartwig suggests that the comic nature of these roles, together with the sympathy...

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