Exploring the evidence that the works of Shakespeare were written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford 

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The Shakespeare Plays / The Winter’s Tale

The Winter's Tale

So you put your wife on trial for treasonous infidelity and declare your daughter illegitimate? Who do you think you are? Henry the Eighth?

Join Professor Michael Delahoyde LIVE on Sunday, December 8 at 4pm E | 1pm P! 

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We will explore for Shakespeare’s tragicomedy? fever-dream? The Winter’s Tale. If your insanely jealous daddy put your mommy on trial for infidelity, resulting in her death, and you were banished as illegitimate, you’re not alone. Perdita feels ya. Exploring another facet of accusations against a wife, Shakespeare-Oxford expiates some guilt while offering Queen Elizabeth a therapeutic allegory of extreme family dysfunction and, after many years and a rustic springtime festival, some healing restoration. We’re just not sure what to do about that guy eaten by a bear.

Winter's Tale

Live! Sunday Dec 8

Here are some general questions we want to try addressing. 
  1. Another random title?
  2. Another study in jealousy gone wild?
  3. What is the purpose of the fantasy dreamlike ending?
Themes

The main themes of The Winter's Tale include

  • Jealousy
  • Grief & Guilt
  • Rural Innocence
  • Social Status
  • Family Reunion
Plot Summary
Leontes, King of Sicilia, urges his lifelong friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, to prolong his visit. When Leontes’ wife, the pregnant Hermione succeeds in this suit, Leontes flips out, insanely insisting on their secret affair and his own cuckoldry. He wants Polixenes assassinated, Hermione tried and executed, and the newborn daughter killed.
When his young son is reported dead and subsequently so too his wife, a horrified Leontes laments his jealous and misguided rage and will be mercilessly reminded of his idiocy for years by female advisor Paulina.
 
The baby lives, brought up by a rustic father and son, and is called Perdita, meaning a lost one. Years pass, and Polixenes’ royal son Florizel is smitten. A springtime festival brings a comic element with the rogue peddler Autolycus seeking to fleece the rubes.
Eventually identities are revealed, daughter Perdita restored to an overjoyed Leontes, and Paulina has one more bizarre but glorious restorative revelation.
 
Let’s think about this play as a possible gift to Queen Elizabeth.
 
What did I forget to mention? Oh yeah: a guy gets eaten by a bear.
Sources

The Winter’s Tale can be dated from between 1588, when all main sources were available, and 1611 when a performance was recorded by Simon Forman.

What works inspired the author?

  • Robert Greene’s Pandosto or The Triumph of Time, published in 1588 — unless as some scholars suggest, Green’s play was based upon The Winter’s Tale
  • Ovid’s Metamorphoses (translated in 1567 by Edward de Vere’s uncle Arthur Golding ) which describes Pygmalion’s statue coming to life

Act by Act Analysis and more evidence for Oxford's authorship

Michael Delahoyde, The Winter’s Tale, Overview and Act by Act.
Visit the website of Professor Michael Delahoyde, host of our series, for an act by act analysis and full treatment of Oxfordian themes in the play.

Learn more!

Eddi Jolly, “The Winter’s Tale.” In Gilvary, Dating Shakespeare’s Plays. (2010). Dating Shakespeare’s Plays.

Noemi Magri, Italian Renaissance Art in Shakespeare : Guilio Romano and The Winter’s Tale.The De Vere Society newsletter: 2000, July, p. 2-16.

Ross Duffin, An Encore for Shakespeare’s Rare Italian Master. Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter: Vol. 40/3: 20-21 (2004, Summer).

Earl Showerman, Look Down and See What Death is Doing: Gods and Greeks in The Winter’s Tale. The Oxfordian: Vol. 10: 055-074 (2007). 

Charles Wisner Barrell, A Literary Pirate’s Attempt to Publish The Winter’s Tale in 1594 : Significant Facts Testifying to the Early Composition of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Jealousy. Shakespeare Fellowship quarterly: Vol. VII/2: 20-31 (1946, April)

Bette Talvacchia, The Rare Italian master and the posture of Hermione in The Winter’s Tale. The Elizabethan Review: Vol. 1/1: 040-057 (1993, Spring)

BOOKS

William Farina, De Vere as Shakespeare: An Oxfordian Reading of the Canon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006. 44-48.

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