Regarding the third act of The Winter’s Tale, Old Shepard’s discovery of the abandoned baby is reminiscent of Oberon’s and Titania’s engagement over the changeling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Initially, Old Shepard assuming the baby with the box is “some changeling” (3.3.109) is the obvious reasoning for such an inference. However, there’s additional similarities, as well as interesting differences. For instance, instead of the baby being a changeling boy, this baby is something of a changeling girl. Moreover, instead of the female character Titania claiming the boy, the old man claims the girl; thus, there’s a bit of a gender role reversal. Yet, both changelings are a means of gaining power. For Titania, the possession of the male child is symbolic of femininity overpowering masculinity. On the other hand, for Old Shepard, the baby girl, along with the box full of gold, represents the belief of fairy-riches, as long as the secret is kept safe (3.3.110-15). Again, both instances of inheriting the changelings, or something like inheriting a changeling in The Winter’s Tale, occur after someone dies. In Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania’s friend, the “vot’ress of [her] order,” (2.1.123) dies and leaves the boy for Titania to foster. In comparison, in The Winter’s Tale, Antigonus leaves the baby behind and is mulled to death by the bear (3.3.88-90). And what of Puck’s equivalent in The Winter’s Tale? Clown is Old Shepard’s son and does his father’s bidding. Having said that, Clown should be on the opposing side, as Puck takes orders from Oberon, Titania’s husband and momentary enemy. Still, Puck is something of a complex character because he also helps Titania’s allies:
Take heed the Queen come not within his sight,
For Oberon is passing and wroth
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king. (2.1.19-22)
Thus, Puck potential parallels the role of Clown. Furthermore, the aforementioned Indian king is likely comparable to Leontes, who’s the baby’s father. After Leontes realizes the baby’s his daughter, after the message from Apollo’s priest, in combination with his wife’s and son’s suicide, Old Shepard’s possession of the girl in secrecy is something like the supposed stealing of the Indian king’s son (3.2.131-33 &192-99). Ultimately, I’m interesting in discovering how the rest of The Winter’s Tale plays out.
Kyle,
I thought your comparison of The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream was very interesting. All the character alignments are fascinating. I like how there is this idea of not only a Changeling Boy, but also a Changeling Girl in Shakespeare’s works. I especially found the comparisons between the Old Shepherd and Titania intriguing.
When you mentioned the mirroring of Puck and Clown, I, too, questioned because Puck was in service to Oberon. However, before that, you made a point about the gender role reversal of the changeling babies. I think it kind of interesting in a way, because in an almost alternate universe, maybe Puck would be in service to Titania. The Winter’s Tale provides us with the opposite: a changeling girl instead of boy, and old man who found her instead of a beautiful fairy queen. So, in a way, I think the Puck/Clown comparison does work rather well. Your post gave me some new insight—great thoughts!