From Amazon: Grouped by some scholarly circles with Shakespeare’s late romances, while others consider it amongst his comedies, The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s classic “problem plays.” A compelling mix of psychological drama and comic relief, the popular play tells the story of a royal family whose tragic beginnings ultimately afford them opportunities for reconciliation and redemption. Spanning the length of sixteen years, The Winter’s Tale remains one of Shakespeare’s most complex and underappreciated works.

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I feel like this Shakespearian play doesn’t get enough face time.  I first became aware of it when I was in High School, looking at the names of all the plays Shakespeare ever wrote.  We all know about his overly famous plays, like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but what about The Winter’s Tale?  I was intrigued by the title at the time, and the fact that I’d never heard of it before (and with a brother heavily into Shakespeare and acting, that was unusual).  I’ve never seen this title on a playbill, though I’m sure it must be preformed somewhere, and my curiosity about this play was peaked—though in High School I didn’t do anything about it.  Recently, I had to teach Hamlet, and as I was looking on Amazon for a copy for my Kindle, I once again came across The Winter’s Tale.  As it was a free copy, I scooped it up and read it right away, just to assuage my curiosity.

It was interesting.  In my opinion, it’s not really like Shakespeare’s other plays.  It’s a bit intense in the beginning, and though there are comedic scenes, I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a comedy, nor a tragedy either.  A romance, I suppose, but for me, it’s a bit strange.  Through a little research I found that Shakespeare actually modeled his play off Pandosto, by Robert Greene (which I’ve never read), but I, personally, see much of Oedipus Rex in this play.  I know Shakespeare dealt a lot with Greek mythology in his works, and The Winter’s Tale seems to really follow that of Oedipus Rex.  I’m not going to give the entire synopsis away, or any spoilers, but, like Oedipus, King Leontes is a haughty man, paranoid.  He refuses to listen to oracles and attempts to do away with his newborn child by sending her away to die. While there are many differences between The Winter’s Tale and Oedipus, there are also many similarities and I found this rather interesting, especially because I really enjoy Oedipus. That being said, I’d like to see this play preformed someday, I always tend to like plays more when they’re preformed, so I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for this one.  Three stars.

I picked up my copy of this play through Amazon Kindle when it was free.