The statue of Hermione is a symbol of redemption. After the
music starts to play, the dramatic effect is heightened by the slow and gradual
way in which the near to close statue, transforms into Hermione. After Hermione
descends, Leontes speaks with great joy and declares that she is “warm”. Also,
he refers to this act of Hermione coming alive to art. This brings in the theme
of art and nature which was a much debated topic during the Elizabethan era. It
was argued that art is only an attempt to recreate nature and some said that
art could be used to create something even more real than nature, in essence
saying that, art is nature. Hermione being symbolized as a statue brings in the
concept of art and when this object of art comes alive it is nature that is to
take the responsibility.
Furthermore, we see that after the increasing build up for
the arrival of Hermione, when finally she is amongst the character, Shakespeare
adopts a technique which results in the audience to anxiously wait for her to
speak. She does not speak immediately and what builds up the drama is that all
characters speak except her. Shakespeare makes Polixenes and Camillo comment on
her actions as though she herself cannot yet speak. Polixenes says, “She
embraces him”.
Thereafter, Paulina extends the drama by preparing Hermione
for her daughter, Perdita. It is at this point when Shakespeare includes
Hermione’s speech. She expresses her concern for Perdita and how she has been
all these years. Eventually Shakespeare speeds up the course of events and
begins to gather all the issues of the play and divert them to an end. Hermione
is told about her daughter and Leontes gives an ending speech in which he vows
to love Hermione forever and he asks Camiilo to marry Paulina. The play comes
to an abrupt end with Leontes and Hermione reunited, Florizel and Perdita also
united and Camillo and Paulina accepting to be together.
No comments:
Post a Comment