Friday, December 12, 2008
“Exeunt pursued by a bear” - more than comical relief?
I know the famous line “Exeunt pursued by a bear” is a comic sigh of relief within this play, but I think the bear has a lot more symbolism than a silly comic relief Shakespeare through in the play and I apologize in advance, because this post might seem like a stretch/random thoughts that are in cohesive. There is one important tempest (allude to another Shakespeare classic), which occurs when Antigonus sails to Bohemia. He leaves his ship taking Perdita who is to be exposed on the WILD shore. Tempests are associated with "creatures of prey" as is the bear in The Winter's Tale who eats Antigonus after he has abandoned Perdita. When the day 'frowns' on him, a well-worn image becomes strangely alive before the eyes of the audience. Here the bear ACTUALLY appears, destroying Antigonus while the other tempest drowns the sailors who have brought him to do his evil deed. I think the bear is much more than a silly laughter break but helps us deepen our understanding of the symbolizing of Leontes' savage authority over Antigonus, a somewhat innocent character. Call me crazy?
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I believe that you have a point here. When I first read of the bear, it struck me as quite a humorous situation. But after re reading and thinking of how nothing in Shakespeare should ever be taken for granted, I tend to agree with her statement that the bear could symbolize the savage power and ruthlessness that Leontes has over Antigonous and other characters. I have found that as I re read the plays its best to really ask the question, why that? What is Shakespeare trying to get across? There are so many different ways of killing a character, granted that he bridges on the obvious uncertainty of humor and tragedy in the play, I think you could argue both ways. The bear adds to a bit of humor, there is something very un natural of death by bear. And at the same time Leontes has gone crazy and savage trying to kill his child and forcing Antigonous to do so. The fact the bear is associated with the storm could be signs that those two are metaphors for Leontes’ bad decisions causing havoc on his people. Anyway, though the post was interesting. Thanks,
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