The Winter's Tale

Shakespeare's Winter's Tale is a beautiful, disturbing, and charming play with plot lines of terrible tragedy and antic comedy. It begins with a successful royal marriage gone wrong, the horrifying madness of King Leontes, and seemingly irreparable consequences. Then, with the most famous stage direction, "Exit, pursued by a bear," the story shifts abruptly to music and fooling and a pastoral love story. The change brings relief as it introduces deeper elements of mythology, social commentary, and satire. In the end, all is resolved with an odd twist, with the lost being found, with a magical combination of Nature and Art. "If this be magic, let it be an art as lawful as eating!"