It was interesting to me how much Shakespeare set up to compare Perdita and her mother, Hermione; and also Prince Florizel and his father, Polixenes. Sort of a double-layer foil, if you will. So not only are we drawn to these generational gaps, but also to the differences in the treatment of ancestry.
Obviously Perdita and Hermione are comparable. Paulina, talking about the queen. “as she lived peerless” A gentleman referring to Perdita says, “Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think That e’er the sun shone bright on”. Neither women have peers on their level. The only person who might compete with one of them would then be the other.
Paulina “lifted the princess from the earth” and also lifted the queen from the earth, No?
A Gentleman also says about Perdita, “the majesty of the creature in resemblane of the mother, the affection of nobleness which nature shows above her breeding”
Both women carry themselves in high posture; both have an air of inborn royalty that is substantial enough to be noted by other characters.
To the same degree is Florizel similar to his father: Leontes says upon first meeting Florizel: “you’re father’s image is so hit in you, His very air, that I should call you brother.”
When Perdita discovers her mother is A) a queen and B) deceased, “attentiveness wounded (her)… she did… bleed tears. Who was most marble” (another connection! Perdita’s marble…mom’s a statue… see where I’m going with this?) The princess runs to the statue to meet her mother “they say one would speak to her and stand in hope of answer” likeness so well, she wanted to know it.
Perdita wants nothing more than her mother’s advice that she cannot have, and Florizel wants nothing to do with his father’s, which is offered anyway.
Florizel proclaims, “(My father) has his health and ampler strength indeed Than most have of his age…I (will) not acquaint My father of this business”
Polixenes takes personal offense to his child not wanting his advice: “Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base To be acknowledged: … thou old traitor… we’ll bar thee from succession Not hold thee of our blood, no not our kin” on the other hand, Hermione’s spirit in a way was KEPT ALIVE at the thought of her daughter’s very existence, “Knowing by Paulina that the oracle Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved Myself to see the issue”
As much as Florizel is a good character, (ie there’s no fatal flaw, he doesn’t die a brutal and/or deserved death etc), to me, I don’t think that Shakespeare is promoting the way he treats his dad…
I guess in the end they all live happily ever after. So I guess… treat your parents however… ?
Florizel seemed more like a, treat your parents right, unless they're wrong. If you find a pretty girl they don't like, then go behind their back. Kind of a mixed message after how loyal both of Hermione's children were to her..
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems that Leontes feels true remorse for what he has done. I can imagine that Perdita must have sensed this in him if he did not outright say it to her in particular. Later on, Perdita seems always to agree with Leontes in the few lines that she has. I think Pedita's example of this kind of acceptance despite mistakes is remarkable.
ReplyDelete