What role does love play in the story? What does love cause to happen? Cite specific examples from the story to support your answer.

As the old saying says “Love conquers all things’”, but this was not really the case in the tragic-comedy, Winter’s tale.

In the novel, the theme of love plays a significant role in creating the form of drama that the play encompasses which is tragic comedy. Shakespeare introduces the theme of love and makes major reference to it in many ways. He goes about doing this by allowing the reader/audience to visualize the different aspects of love by the use of different scenarios which display or emphasize how powerful love can really be. Shakespeare goes further by allowing his readers/audience to not only witness and understand the theme of love in the play but also what love is capable of doing. Shakespeare also reminds us that love does not only have to exist between a man and a woman. Take Paulina and Hermione for instance. Although Paulina was a mere servant or waiting lady to Hermione, we see in the novel Winters Tale that the love Paulina had for Hermione went way beyond her duties. In this novel we see that during Hermione’s time of crisis, Paulina acted as her backbone and walked with her until the end. This unconditional love is portrayed in the novel when Paulina makes it a priority to visit Hermione at the prison. Even though she was not allowed in she persuaded the guard to let her through. Also Paulina continued showing her love for Hermione by taking the new born (perdita) in her care and to the king (Leontes) in the hopes of getting him to reconcile the relationship he once had with his wife Hermione. Furthermore, although Paulina knew she could have been punished for her actions of going against all moral statutes by speaking out to the king, she did not care much; she made it her duty to do it anyway hoping that her actions helped in clearing the name of her beloved queen Hermione. Additionally, this love between both characters was evident when, even though Hermione was accused of the adulterous act, Paulina didn’t for one minute believe that her queen could have committed the act. She remained adamant in her stance that Hermione could not have and did not commit such act.

In addition to that, love is also introduced as Camillo reminds the readers/audience of how much he missed his rightful home, Sicilia. The overwhelming love Camillo had for his home caused him to do anything he could to get back to Sicilia, even if it meant using Florizel and Perdita as an excuse to do so.

Another aspect of love is identified in the relationship between the characters of Florizel and Perdita. In the novel, we see Florizel as being a prince and Perdita a mere Shepherd's daughter; two opposing entities display their love for each other. Florizel loved perdita so much that he laid down his pride of being a prince just to be with her. He even made it his duty to keep it a secret from his father and best friend or basically everyone in order to keep her safe. Also, even when his father found out and threatened to destroy the relationship they had, the love between them was so strong that florizel stuck with her and denied the kingdom and all the riches and ran away with her just so that they can be together.

Leontes also caused one to identify the power of love since it was his love for Hermione that caused his jealous feelings to get the best of him and as a result, he loosed everything he dearly loved. This emphasizes that aspect of love that can cause a person to do things they would not normally find themselves doing. It also shines light on the old saying that says “love can make a man/woman do stupid things”.

In conclusion, take a look at the love Hermione had for her daughter, Perdita. It was Hermione’s love for perdita that is responsible for her miraculous resurrection in the plays final act. This goes on to say that the theme of love in the play not only restores domestic and political order, but it offers an optimistic view of society on a whole.

Group; Tia-Marie Haywood
          Shaqueilla Samuel
          Dijonya Roberts
          Shamantha Farrell
          Akera Meade