The one scene that Time has is composed of 15 rhyming couplets. The language Shakespeare uses is time-associated, “swift”, “hour”, “pass”, “stale”, “speed, “pace”. Time, with a capital “t”, is personified as the speaker. Time directly addresses us, the audience: “Your patience this allowing…” This is a formal technique and is in a way breaking the fourth wall. Time acknowledges the time that has passed and also fills us—the audience—in on what has passed in the sixteen years that we as viewers are skipping. Although there is a rhyme scheme, it sounds like a speech, which is Shakespeare’s intention. Time discusses his fickle relationship with people: “I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror/ Of good and bad that makes and unfolds error…” The speech is both a macro-perspective on time and its reputation and in not the play but life in general. Then Time specifies his purpose regarding the events of the play. The reoccurring motif of birth is evident when Time says: “…in one self-borne hour”. Time then discusses the children of the two kings, Perdita and Florizel—the children born after the conflicts of their fathers. These are the children, who in the following acts of the play, may be able to reconcile the two kingdoms.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Time
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This does not really relate to time, but your last observation caused me to question the significance of Perdita and Florizel. Are they anything more than just a way to reconcile the kingdoms? Their love for each other is pure and strong, something that cannot be broken by an outsider or a specific event (such as Polixenes threatening to break them apart). This directly contrasts the relationship of Leontes and Polixenes (symbolizing Sicilia and Bohemia respectively) which broke as soon as Leontes suspected Polixenes of sleeping with Hermione. With this perspective, I think Florizel and Perdita do represent more than just a reconciliation. They also serve as foils to other characters' relationships, and the kingdoms as well.
ReplyDeleteThis passage by "Time" seemed very abrupt and contrasting to the earlier acts of the play. I think this might indicate how fast time really does "fly" because 16 years has already passed. LIke in Oedipus, it has taken many years of life before any really important events happen. Your observation about the line “I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror/ Of good and bad that makes and unfolds error…” is good because it recaps what happened earlier in the play where Leontes had terror that unfolded into his error in thinking his wife cheated on him. The personification of time is something we only see once in the play, but we are aware that time is constantly passing.
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