The Seasons Symbol Analysis

The play’s title hints at the importance of the seasons, and while they are not always an obvious motif throughout the play, the seasons (in particular winter and summer) form a significant background to the action of the play. The first three acts of the play take place in winter, as is hinted when Mamillius prepares to tell Hermione a story and tells her, “a sad tale’s best for winter.” Acts 4 and 5, in contrast, take place in the spring and summer (the exact time is ambiguous), as is made clear by the occasion of the sheep-shearing festival in Bohemia. As Mamillius’ comment suggests, each season has particular associations appropriate to it. Cold winter is often associated with old age, death, and grimness. As such, it is appropriate for the first, tragic half of The Winter’s Tale, in which the older generation of characters is at the center of the action, and which climaxes with the deaths of Mamillius and Hermione (and also includes Antigonus’ death). Spring symbolizes renewal, rebirth, and new beginnings, and is associated with youth. Thus, in the second half of the play, the younger characters (Perdita and Florizell, especially) take center stage, and the tragic seriousness of the first three acts gives way to the light-heartedness of the sheep-shearing festival. Moreover, this part of the play reaches a climax with the “rebirth” of Perdita, as she becomes a princess once again, and with the apparent resurrection of Hermione. Both seasonal moments thus signify particular things, and emphasize aspects of the play that occur during each seasonal period. But since the play contains both time periods, it is ultimately a combination of the contradictory associations of both these times of year, just as it is a combination of the qualities of several genres (including tragedy and comedy).