Review: The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

In the play The Winter’s Tale, the significance of the title The Winter’s Tale is that it highlights foreshadowing and slight irony by giving the character with the least lines, Maxmillius, one of the most important lines: “A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one of sprites and goblins” (Shakespeare 51). The Winter’s Tale also happens to occur during the wintertime. This line foretells the play’s general plot, depicting that the play will most likely be of a sad and depressed nature and may end tragically. It is also ironic because the reader, till this point, has not realized how significant of a character Maxmillius turns out to be since this character does not seem to impact the play significantly.
The function of setting in The Winter’s Tale is to provide important background information for the play and allow many specific events in the plot to happen. For example, certain plot events like the murder of people without any objection would not be allowed or culturally accepted in certain time periods and cultures. Another example is when they abandon Perdita. She was left in a forest with “fairy gold” in hopes of giving her a chance at life. In different time periods or regions, the baby would not have just been taken and the superstitious beliefs would not have allowed the Shepherd to adopt the child without inquiry or suspicion. Social relationships are also important to the development of setting, for example, women are treated poorly and have little or no power over their lives in the patriarchal society. This allows Hermione to be treated with little or no respect when accused of a crime and gives her little power. Other prominent females in the play also have little control over decisions and government, and depend on the power of persuasion, such that of Paulina true intentions of trying to convince Leontes to have mercy on the baby, as shown on when she states, “We do not know How he may soften at the sight o’ th’ child. The silence often of pure