Wrapping up The Winter's Tale

"Merry or sad shall't be?
As merry as you will.

A sad tale's best for winter...

Well, as we already discussed all the main issues and important features in the play, now let us discover some interesting facts and information added in the play's trivia.

• Some critics believe that Leontes's jealous behavior toward Hermione in The Winter’s Tale is a thinly veiled allegory about King Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded after being tried and convicted of adultery in 1536. (Source: Stephen Orgel, Introduction to The Winter’s Tale.Oxford World’s Classics 1996 edition.)

• The Winter’s Tale teaches us that mouth bling was pretty popular in Shakespeare’s day. When Autolycus pretends to be a nobleman in Act 4, Scene 4, the Clown remarks that Autolycus must be rich because “the picking [gold toothpick] on’s teeth” is so fancy.

• What’s Up With the Title? - The term “winter’s tale” isn’t used a whole lot in the 21st century, but in Shakespeare’s day, everyone knew that a “winter’s tale” was the kind of story one might tell in order to pass the time on a long winter evening. Like a fairy tale, a winter’s tale may be entertaining, but it doesn’t have a whole lot of credibility.

• Everyone knows that Bohemia is completely landlocked, but Shakespeare either didn’t know or didn’t care. At the beginning of Act 3, Scene 3, Antigonus asks “Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd upon / The deserts of Bohemia?” (3.3.1)