Page images
PDF
EPUB

title. For pure contingency--in its outward, objective form which, as such, interrupts the order of nature, the given division of time and space, the causal-connection of things, and comes in-between like a foreign elementstands in the closest affinity to the idea of the marvellous. A tale or fairy tale, however, does not, as might be supposed, assume the Wonderful merely as a form or outward dress; the Wonderful is rather an essential element in it, because it is itself essentially based upon the mystic view of things, which looks upon life only as the outward form of a deep, unrevealable mystery, to which everything, therefore, appears an inexplicable wonder. Accordingly, that which in common life-in our ignorance of its cause and necessity-we call chance, is made the ruling principle of the tale or fairy tale, and, in order that the principle, as such, may also be clearly and distinctly brought forward, it presents itself in strange, arbitrary and fantastic shapes, in outward forms opposed to common reality. What is fairytale-like in character is, on this very account, a legitimate ingredient in the comic view of life, but only in the comic view; a tragic fairy tale world be a poetical monstrosity. In The Winter's Tale, however, Shakspeare has not opened up the whole region of the marvellous, he has described the wonderful, not so much in its outer form as in its ideal nature and character. fact, it exists here only in the incomprehensibility of outward contingency and the latter's mysterious connection with the actions and fortunes of the dramatic characters. By thus modifying the idea, Shakspeare has brought the whole nearer to the common reality of lite, and enhances the effect by the greater illusion, for in fact a tale gains in poetic beauty when the representation of the marvellous is introduced noiselessly, as if it wer the most ordinary of occurrences.

*

In

Shakspeare has here again, I think, clearly enough intimated by the title of his play, in what sense he took up and worked upon Greene's romance. He could hardly have intended merely to dramatise a traditional tale; the

* Accordingly the alterations which Shakspeare made in Greene's novel were artistically necessary

[ocr errors]

play is not called 'A Winter's Tale,' but The Winter's Tale.' The poet's intention here was again, as it were, to hold the mirror up to nature, to show the body of the time its pressure. In other words, he wished to show that from a certain point of view life itself appears like a strange, cheerful and yet eerie winter's tale-a tale told to a circle of poetically disposed listeners gathered round the flickering fireside of a peaceful, happy home, on a raw winter's night, by a master in the art of story-telling, while the atmosphere of the warm, secure and happy assembly mixes with the terrors of the adventures narrated, and with the cold, dismal night outside. It becomes this solely by the mysterious veil which envelops the power of chance which is spread over the whole. It is cheerful because through this veil we everywhere get a glimmer of the light of a future which is leading all towards what is good, and because we everywhere feel that the dismal darkness of the present will be cleared off by a necessity which, even though equally dark, is internal. And yet a gentle shudder runs through our frame when we behold the otherwise pod and noble Leontes when excited by trifling circumstances and suddenly seized by a force of passion in the form of a jealousy as blind as it is unreasonable about to take the life of the deeply-beloved friend of his youth, driving from himself his noble queen, the model of female virtue, exposing his child and branding his honest servant Camillo with the crime of treason;-when we behold how, owing to the mysterious connection in the power of evil, mischief follows close upon the footsteps of sin, threatening the welfare of the whole kingdom; and again, when we behold how accident, as the avenging angel, seizes and destroys even the unwilling tools of crime, and how this complication of crimes even threatens to disturb the peaceful, innocent happiness of the old shepherd and his family.

It is self-evident that when human life appears like a strange winter's tale, the conception cannot and should not be regarded as the plain and absolute truth. Shakspeare's intention was rather to set forward but one side, one element of the whole which is but little taken into consideration. And, in fact, this view of life contains the

VOL. II.

D

profound truth that life does not present itself to man only in its undimned transparency and perfect clearness, like a bright, cheerful summer's day, but that it is enveloped in a mysterious, irremovable veil, and governed by a power that cannot always be recognised. Shakspeare does not forget to point to the fact that the only means a man has of protecting himself from this dark power, is by strict adherence to the moral law and to the ethical order of the universe, and that, on the other hand, he inevitably falls a prey to it by wandering from the right path, by passion and want of self-control, and thus becomes a playball to the good or bad humours of this power. If, in the present drama, it manifests itself in a good humour, and ultimately brings all back to the right track, this again is but a matter of chance which, in the domain of comedy, is, in fact, represented by the guiding hand of Fate. If it were conceived otherwise, the drama would necessarily have become a tragedy as in the case of Othello,' where we have a similar foundation and arrangement.

The play may meet with the objection of being tragical in the first three acts, and comic in the last two. Externally this certainly appears to be the case. But the objection holds good only upon a superficial examination of the piece and when individual features alone are considered. Viewed externally the comic elements-in the narrower sense of the word-are certainly crowded into the last two acts. But every careful reader will feel even in the first three acts that the whole is based upon the comic view of life. This is why the colours used to describe the jealousy of Leontes, the unhappiness of his wife, and the king's repentance and sorrow, are nowhere laid on with glaring thickness, but tempered and given in light touches. Even individual points in the declaration of the oracle, as, in fact, its very introduction into the play, points to a happy issue. Accordingly, the comic scenes at the shepherds' festival in Bohemia, and subsequently those in Sicilia, are most naturally connected with the conclusion of the third act. The contradiction is indeed not wholly removed; this could not be were it only on account of the circumstance that the last two acts

are played sixteen years after the first, in quite new surroundings, under different relations and by different individuals. The division of the piece into two separate parts remains an undeniable defect in the composition. Still, what remains of the contradiction is nevertheless perfectly in keeping with the story-like character of the play and serves to bring this more prominently forward. As in a tale, so here pain and anxiety are directly mingled with fantastic pleasure and grotesque merriment; as in a tale, the distance of time and place disappear in the mysterious haze which envelops the whole; as in a tale, the apparently widely-diverging threads are ultimately wound one into another and form an harmonious design, in which every figure receives its proper place.

All depends upon the view we take of the play. If its story-like character be ignored, and it is regarded from the stand-point of history, which everywhere derives actions and events from given circumstances and relations, from the situations and characters of its dramatis personæ, then the play not merely falls into two purely external and loosely connected halves, but the action also -the jealousy of Leontes, the conduct of Polixenes, the rescue and recovery of Perdita, etc.-appears but very insufficiently motived. If, however, the whole drama is conceived in the sense and spirit in which Shakspeare intended it to be understood, and in accordance with which he gave it the name of 'The Winter's Tale,' then it will be found that here, also, the different characters are not only sharply shaded off one against the other, not only are they arranged into distinct, clear and harmonious groups, and described in accordance with the sense of the whole, but they also act in perfect keeping with its spirit and character, and lead the action to its goal.

What lofty dignity, what a noble womanly mind--in contrast to the unkingly and unmanly passionateness of her husband-is exhibited by the wronged queen in her unhappiness as well as in the penance she imposes upon herself and her husband! What fearless, self-sacrificing fidelity shines forth, like a star in the darkness of night, in the characters of Paulina and Camillo! What a fresh

[ocr errors]

fulness of innate nobility of soul and of inward and outward beauty is revealed in the nature of The Lost Princess,' amidst her rude and ill-assorted surroundings! What a correct instinct leads the prince's heart to choose that which the pride and hoary wisdom of his father would have cast aside! What a significant contrast is made by the poor, joyous and peaceful life of the shepherds, as opposed to the brilliant misery of the court! These sharp contrasts not only raise the action above the level of common reality, but also contribute their part to giving the whole the one harmonious impress of the tale or story.

Most commentators have hitherto been agreed in dating the origin of the piece between the years 1610 and 1613, which supposition is certainly supported by its general character and diction. Malone also, who at first decided in favour of 1594 and afterwards for 1604, was subsequently converted, and the opinion of Pope, who regarded the piece as an unsuccessful production of Shakspeare's youth, is founded only upon his own erroneous judgment. It has now been proved by Collier,* through the discovery of Dr. Forman's Diary, that the piece was performed on the 15th of May, 1611; the account-books of the Revels at Court † also, according to which it was played on November 5th, of the same year, at Whitehall, lead us to suppose that about this time it was still a new and favourite piece. And, as even Malone proved, it was first licensed by Sir G. Buck, who did not enter upon the full possession of his office as Master of the Revels till August 1610; thus it is now a matter of certainty that The Winter's Tale' must have been brought upon the stage between August 1610, and May 1611. Yet it is just possible that Shakspeare subsequently remodelled an earlier work. A play under the title of A Winternyght's Pastime,' is entered at Stationers' Hall as early as 1594. This was perhaps the same play to which Shakspeare may have given a some

[ocr errors]

*New Particulars, etc., p. 17.

+ Cunningham: Extracts from the Accounts of the Rerels, etc., p

210.

« EelmineJätka »