More mimesis in the winter's tale -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 17:50:51 04/21/08 Mon
Author: Betsy Peters
Subject: More mimesis in the winter's tale
In reply to: Shannon 's message, "A Winter's Tale II" on 10:44:26 04/20/08 Sun

Another interesting mimetic pair in the Winter's Tale is Leontes and his son Mamilius. Because this son is so much like him, Leontes feels the proximity of the imitation as an extention of Polixenes' rivalry. He begins with his son's nose "it is a copy out of mine" (1.2.130), then again, "the boy were like me" (1.2.157), and again, "I saw myself of my boy's face" (1.2.157). He challenges Polixenes on the grounds of sonship: "Are you so fond of your young prince as we do seem to be of ours" (1.2.165). Mamillius returns: "I am like you, they say" (1.2.207). Because Mamillius is so like his father, Leontes actually holds this similarity against his son, arguing: "though he does bear some signs of me, yet you [Hermione] / have too much blood in him" (2.1.57). This similar son only intensitifies the rivalry between Hermione and Leontes and Polixenes in Sicily.

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