The winter's tale was one of Shakespeare's last plays. As a typical tragicomic, the whole play is shaped into a two-part structure. The first part is the story about Leonte's jealousy which brings the destruction to his royal family. It is completely tragic and sad. With a narration from the Time, the latter part, which tells the things 16 years later, turns from dim scenes to be bright and comic. The love between Florizel and Perdita, the reunification of Leontes with his lost daughter and wife bring to the play a perfect ending. .
Man's distrust and suspicion of his wife is really a common topic. While obviously, the meaning the play tries to convey should much more than that. Shakespeare put the topic onto a king who in some senses is the symbol of power, and narrowly speaking, of masculine power. As Patricia Gourlay has mentioned in her essay about The Winter's tale, the position of men and women in Shakespeare's society is as follows:.
That society is, of course, masculine, with male and female roles, in general, conventionally defined. Because men rule, the "masculine" values are power, law, and reason; because men is hardheaded, disciplined, practical, as well as honorable. Weakness is "womanish," as are those elements of their own nature that men deny or repress.j.
As a representative of masculine values such as power, authority, reason and rule, Leontes" action embodies the typical social inclination. His distrust to his wife reveals the common attitude toward women at that time. From the quotation, women are said at the time of Shakespeare to be more obedient in face of male authority. But ironically, if we observe the three women in the play, we find them more active, witty than men and have courage to challenge the male union. Leontes is angry with Hermione and Paulina because he can not endure the situation where his male power is threatened by women. Under the superficial story of adultery and husband's jealousy, we conclude it is about conflict between men and women.