Episode 36: A Winter's Tale, Act 3
On The Literary Life podcast today, we join our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks to discuss Act 3 of The Winter's Tale by Williams Shakespeare. Before jumping into Shakespeare, though, our hosts are excited to announce a new online conference coming on March 13-14, 2020. Our theme will be Re-enchanting the World: The Legacy of the Inklings. Our keynote speaker is Inklings scholar, Joseph Pearce. Go to Angelina and Thomas' new website HouseofHumaneLetters.com for all the info and to register.
After catching us up on the plot, Angelina asks Thomas to explain a little about the Oracles and Apollo and how they relate to this play. He also talks about the parallel between this play and the historical events surrounding Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Our hosts also bring out the importance of a legitimate heir to the throne in a monarchy. The idea of the consequence of an out of control imagination continue to be crucial in this act. They also talk about the sudden change in Leontes\u2019 feelings and his repentance at the end of Act 3.
Angelina points out that the structure of the play tells us that all this death and grief is not the climax of the story. Cindy brings up the Russian feel present in A Winter\u2019s Tale. Thomas explores the characters of the shepherds and rustics in Shakespeare\u2019s plays. They discuss the fairy elements as well as the gospel elements of the baby and the gold being found by the shepherds.
Commonplace Quotes:\u201cI think it was The Times Literary Supplement\u2013and it had left me depressed. What struck me so forcibly, and not for the first time, was that a new book on any subject-history, philosophy, science, religion, or what have you\u2013is always dealt with by a specialist in that subject. This may be fairest from the author\u2019s point of view, but it conveys a disagreeable impression of watertight compartments\u2026
Owen Barfield
It wasn\u2019t that people can think at once confidently and oppositely about almost anything that matters-though that, too, can sometimes be a sobering reflection. It wasn\u2019t that they disagreed. I wished they did. What was biting me was the fact that these minds never met at all.\u201d
Our Ford himself did a great deal to shift the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and happiness. Mass production demanded the shift. Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty can't.
Aldous Huxley
The Winter\u2019s Tale Show Schedule:A professor is someone who talks in someone else\u2019s sleep.
W. H. Auden
- February 18: Act IV
- February 25: Act V
- March: Live Q&A for Patreon Fellows
by George Herbert
I BLESSE thee, Lord, because I G R O W
Among thy trees, which in a R O W
To thee both fruit and order O W.
What open force, or hidden C H A R M
Can blast my fruit, or bring me H A R M
While the inclosure is thine A R M?
Inclose me still for fear I S T A R T.
Be to me rather sharp and T A R T,
Than let me want thy hand and A R T.
When thou dost greater judgements S P A R E,
And with thy knife but prune and P A R E,
Ev\u2019n fruitful trees more fruitfull A R E.
Such sharpness shows the sweetest F R E N D:
Such cuttings rather heal than R E N D:
And such beginnings touch their E N D.
(Amazon Affiliate Links)
Further Up and Further In by Joseph Pearce
Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce
The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis
Worlds Apart by Owen Barfield
The Two Cultures by C. P. Snow
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Wolf Hall Series by Hillary Mantel
Silas Marner by George Eliot
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Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford,\xa0and on Facebook at\xa0https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/
Find Cindy at\xa0https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris\xa0and on Facebook at\xa0https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy\u2019s own Patreon page also!
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