The Importance of Time in Shakespeares The Winters...

The Importance of Time in The Winters Tale Leon. No foot shall stir. Paul. Music, awake her; strike! [Music] Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach; Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come! Ill fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away: Bequeath to death your numbness; for from him Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs: --The Winters Tale (V.iii.98-103) Unlike most of Shakespeares earlier 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 can the two royal families come together again. Time also plays a significant role in the reading of the†¦show more content†¦In many instances of the play, Leontes requests are not heeded to, despite his position as king. When Leontes wants Camillo to poison Hermione, Camillo does not do as he says. Instead, he runs off with Polixenes, buying precious time for everyone. Camillo and Polixenes evade death, and Hermione is given enough time to stage a death so that she can avoid being killed also. Camillos noble defiance gives everyone valuable time; the key factor which allows people to take shelter from Leontes tyranny. The second half-line of line ninety-eight consists of a trochee and two iambs: Music, awake her; strike! Since the only varying foot of the latter half-line is the trochee, music, Shakespeare seems to be emphasizing the significance of music. In a sense, music is a representation of time because it is defined by its time signatures, which designate much of its rhythmical patterns. Music is also the magical element that accompanies the transformation of the still Hermione into the living Hermione, which makes it an agent of change. In other words, Shakespeare conveys that music, or time, has the power to change. Paulina calls for the music to awake her (98), and it does. Time is the essential element that frees Hermione from the bondage of her hiding. In line ninety-nine, Paulina is summoning Hermione from the statue. She indicates that it is time for Hermione to reveal herself. The line beginsShow MoreRelatedTheme Of The Cherry Orchard And The Cherry Orchard748 Words   |  3 Pagesgo back to the time of innocence for them, etc., the human race has not yet acquired the knowledge or capabilities of going back in time. Whether we are looking back and romanticizing the past, or shucking the past altogether in favor of a more optimistic future, time functions around us and is present at every moment. The importance of this seemingly simple concept echoes throughout history, human relationships, wars, and art to try to gain some kind of small understanding of time. This is especiallyRead MoreShakespeare s Othello And The Winter s Tale A Comparison1843 Words   |  8 PagesShakespeare’s Othello and The Winter’s Tale a Comparison Between Desdemona and Hermione William Shakespeare, in his Othello and The Winter’s Tale portrays some curious facets of femininity, maybe deliberately or not. Desdemona in Othello is a Venetian beauty with resolute individuality, while Hermione in The Winter’s Tale is more mysterious. When we take the reality aspect, the former is more realistic and true to life, which has implications even in this time. The latter, is to an extent, unrealRead MoreEssay on Antony and Cleopatra1655 Words   |  7 Pagesarose within the military and the English nobility. After all, their major source of honors and promotion in the monarchs court--great military feats--was constricted by the lack of war (Giddens 2). Shakespeares emphasis on Romes martial society in Antony and Cleopatra addresses the importance that a martial society held for men in England during Elizabeths reign. Military prowess defined masculinity by power and honor. Giddens highlights a Francis Bacon quote from Of the True Greatness ofRead MoreThe Sonnet Form: William Shakespeare6305 Words   |  26 PagesShakespeare’s Sonnets William Shakespeare The Sonnet Form A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter—that is, in lines ten syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable, as in: â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?† The sonnet form first became popular during the Italian Renaissance, when the poet Petrarch published a sequence of love sonnets addressed to an idealized woman named Laura. Taking firm hold among Italian poets, the sonnet