Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale
The Winter’s Tale is haunted by the fear that its ending is as ‘monstrous to our human reason’ as it would be for a deceased man ‘to break his grave / And come again’. Thus Leontes imagines a dead Hermione might ‘possess her corpse, and on this stage… appear soul-vexed’, and Paulina warns that ‘the...
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2011-12-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2348 |
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| author | Richard Wilson |
| author_facet | Richard Wilson |
| author_sort | Richard Wilson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Winter’s Tale is haunted by the fear that its ending is as ‘monstrous to our human reason’ as it would be for a deceased man ‘to break his grave / And come again’. Thus Leontes imagines a dead Hermione might ‘possess her corpse, and on this stage… appear soul-vexed’, and Paulina warns that ‘the ghost that walked’ would ‘shriek that even your ears / Should rift to hear’ it cry ‘Remember’. Earlier Antigonus indeed described the ‘queen’s ghost’ with eyes like ‘two spouts’, as ‘with shrieks / She melted into air’. So when ‘the Queen’s picture’ moves, and ‘it appears she lives’, the play represses possibilities that are ‘more monstrous standing by’, and which had been Shakespeare’s concern ever since Juliet shuddered at ‘the horrible conceit’ of premature burial. The statue that comes to life reverses the contretemps of Juliet’s game of playing saints that ‘do not move’. But The Winter’s Tale can never separate the ‘joy and terror’ in its own anachronistic ‘o’erthrow’ of temporal order, nor suppress the horror of bones that ‘Have burst their cerements’ in the uncanny story of the man ‘Dwelt by a churchyard’. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bf4544fe1eba427ba69ed77097927d92 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2011-12-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sillages Critiques |
| spelling | doaj-art-bf4544fe1eba427ba69ed77097927d922025-01-30T13:46:33ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022011-12-011310.4000/sillagescritiques.2348Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s taleRichard WilsonThe Winter’s Tale is haunted by the fear that its ending is as ‘monstrous to our human reason’ as it would be for a deceased man ‘to break his grave / And come again’. Thus Leontes imagines a dead Hermione might ‘possess her corpse, and on this stage… appear soul-vexed’, and Paulina warns that ‘the ghost that walked’ would ‘shriek that even your ears / Should rift to hear’ it cry ‘Remember’. Earlier Antigonus indeed described the ‘queen’s ghost’ with eyes like ‘two spouts’, as ‘with shrieks / She melted into air’. So when ‘the Queen’s picture’ moves, and ‘it appears she lives’, the play represses possibilities that are ‘more monstrous standing by’, and which had been Shakespeare’s concern ever since Juliet shuddered at ‘the horrible conceit’ of premature burial. The statue that comes to life reverses the contretemps of Juliet’s game of playing saints that ‘do not move’. But The Winter’s Tale can never separate the ‘joy and terror’ in its own anachronistic ‘o’erthrow’ of temporal order, nor suppress the horror of bones that ‘Have burst their cerements’ in the uncanny story of the man ‘Dwelt by a churchyard’.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2348Shakespearethe Gothicthe Uncannycryptomimesisthe monstrous femininereturn of the Dead |
| spellingShingle | Richard Wilson Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale Sillages Critiques Shakespeare the Gothic the Uncanny cryptomimesis the monstrous feminine return of the Dead |
| title | Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale |
| title_full | Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale |
| title_fullStr | Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale |
| title_short | Monstrous to our human reason. The empty grave of the Winter’s tale |
| title_sort | monstrous to our human reason the empty grave of the winter s tale |
| topic | Shakespeare the Gothic the Uncanny cryptomimesis the monstrous feminine return of the Dead |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2348 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT richardwilson monstroustoourhumanreasontheemptygraveofthewinterstale |