To Whatever End ... Devloping Purpose

A Frustrated Researcher
 
My emphasis for my Shakespearean research has been to find primary sources on Shakespeare so we can learn about who He was and what His desires for His plays might have been. This information could be used as part of a foundation for future Shakespearean play adaptation research so actors and producers can understand even more how they might have been preformed and what the authors moral of the story was. But just as I mentioned before in my blog, we have very little documentation about Shakespeare.

A New Hope
In an effort to really get to know the Bard I have decided to look at the sources for his play's and see what he added to them to try and understand the mysterious man. 



Uniquely Similar?
In class we were asked to read "A Winters Tale". I decided to use that play as the basis for my analysis. In the class text book page A-34 it lists "A winters Tale" sources and the differences between the two (thank you Joanna Barker).  Shakespeare's source for "A Winters Tale"  is a romantic novella called Pandesto: The Triumph of Time written by Robert Greene. According to the text book "Shakespeare changes the names, reverses the two kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia, and alters the unhappy ending that afflicts King Pandesto and Queen Bellaria of Bohemia (Leontes and Hermione). Otherwise, the narrative outline remains intact." What is unique about the relationship between Greene and Shakespeare's version is that Shakespeare didn't change it as much as he normally did with his other sources. The changes in "A Winters Tale" "uncharacteristically slight." 

The Changes
The altered "unhappy ending" is at the end of "A Winters Tale" the Queen is resurrected out of a statue. Another change is that the king in Greene's version kills himself after his daughter returns and is to marry the prince. Shakespeare also added a bear and a few other characters as well. The text book says that "the character of Time was added, and the shift in tone from tragedy to tragicomedy." Another pertinent fact is that Shakespeare's king is more irrationally jealous. 

Did We Learn Anything About the Bard? 
-I found some interesting notes about the changes from a book called The Shakespeare Apocrypha by C.F. Tucker Brooke.In his book he suggests that the use of "pastoral romance indicates that at the end of his career Shakespeare felt a renewed interest in the dramatic contexts of his youth."

-Another a analysis by Eric Ives believes that the play is really a parallel of the fall of the queen, who was beheaded on false charges of adultery on the orders of her husband Henry VIII in 1536. There are numerous parallels between the two stories – including the fact that one of Henry's closest friends, Sir Henry Norreys, was beheaded as one of Anne's supposed lovers and he refused to confess in order to save his life  claiming that everyone knew the Queen was innocent. If this theory is followed then Perdita becomes a dramatic presentation of Anne's only daughter, Queen Elizabeth I. 

- I have learned about Shakespeare that he is always incorporating societal paradox's he experienced throughout his life in his plays (I.E. rich to poor, dating and romance and not, male dominance  as a result of a women (mothers) strong influence and the lack of respect women get, race and class castes and movement within). Shakespeare did ask and was buried in his home town after his death so obviously as he got older his thoughts turned to his youth. It is a good chance that Brooke is right on. The fact that Shakespeare's version of the king is more irrational suggests that in his old age he was using memories from his youth and being raised by women to picture characters.

-I also entertain the idea that he purposefully added political overtones in order to appeal to the aristocracy at the time who supported and sponsored the plays on many occasion. All the plays in "The Histories" suggest that Shakespeare tried to appeal to England's monarchs so Ives conclusion is a very real possibility. 

Conclusion

Previously to this play I have only read play's that seem tragic to me. In Henry V the English slaughter the French to reclaim lands Henry feels he is entitled to. The Taming of the Shrew women are objectified and tamed. Othello has one of the worst villains of all time, and the lovers kill themselves. In The Tempest the main characters are trapped on an island for a long time, although they find love and forgiveness I wasn't happy when it finished because the main characters lives were altered so much. It is like going on a long vacation where your car brakes down but you find a dog that you keep while waiting for the tow truck (no offense is meant by that to anyone). They were away from their family's and interests at home for a long time (and all long voyages end up like Odysseus in the Odyssey). The play didnt give me very much closer other than the Prospero epilogue and asking for forgiveness (which forgiveness for me is a change in action not just saying the words so it was a weak forgiveness regardless of the humble speech). However I felt like "A Winters Tale" was a legitimate story book/ Disney (if you will) happy ending which I enjoyed seeing that side of Shakespeare. Even though Shakespeare's play's normally have a happy ending and he has masterful love poems I haven't felt uplifted like I do at the end of the Little Mermaid or the Notebook until I read this play. What I am trying to get at is I enjoyed the older more mature love story side of Shakespeare that he depicts in this play, which is another personality trait we can gleam from the difference. Are understanding of Him didn't come from the changes as much as it came from the selection of influence.  

C. F. Tucker Brooke, The Shakespeare Apocrypha, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908; pp. 103–26.

Ives Eric, "Shakespeare and History: divergencies and agreements", in Shakespeare Survey 38 (1985:19–35), p 24f.