Pandosto: The Triumph of Time is a prose romance written by the English author Robert Greene, first published in 1588. [1] A later edition of 1607 was re-titled Dorastus and Fawnia. [2] Popular during the time of William Shakespeare, the work's plot was an inspiration for that of Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale . Greene, in turn, may have based the work on The Clerk's Tale , one of The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer. [3] Edward Chaney suggested that Robert Greene when writing Pandosto may have had in mind the Earl of Oxford's suspicions about the paternity of his daughter (granddaughter of Lord Burghley) when he returned in 1576 from his continental tour that may have included Sicily. [4]
Greene's story contains darker elements than Shakespeare's version (who lightened the mood of the play for comic and romantic purposes).
In Greene's tale, Pandosto, King of Bohemia, accuses his wife Bellaria of adultery committed with his childhood friend, the King of Sicilia. His pursuit of this unfounded charge leads him to send his infant daughter out to sea to die and causes the death of his son and his wife. His daughter drifts to Sicilia and is saved and raised by a shepherd. Dorastus, the Prince of Sicilia, falls in love with Fawnia, unaware that she is a Princess, and they run away to marry. They land in Bohemia, where Pandosto unwittingly falls in love with his daughter Fawnia. At the end of the story, after Fawnia's identity is revealed, Pandosto commits suicide out of grief for the troubles he caused his family.
In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare reversed the two kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia and added side characters like Paulina and Antigonus. He also introduced Autolycus and the Clown. In terms of the plot, he removed the suicide and added a resurrection scene, bringing the queen back to life using either magic or a death trick, depending on interpretation.
Shakespeare was not the only playwright to adapt Pandosto; the French dramatist Alexandre Hardy produced his own version, titled Pandoste, around 1625. Hardy's play has not survived, though sketches of its scenery by Laurent Mahelot still exist. Mahelot's stage design followed the principle of "multiple setting," or décor simultané, in which a single stage set served for all of a play's scenes. [5]
The poet Francis Sabie had paraphrased the work for a poem in two parts, and given the publication right to Robert Jones. The original titles, altered for 1607 edition, were The Fishermans Tale: Of the famous Actes, Life, and Loue of Cassander, a Grecian Knight, 1595. and Flora's Fortune. The second part and finishing of the Fisher-mans Tale. [2]
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comic and supply a happy ending.
Alexander Dyce was a Scottish writer, dramatic editor, and literary historian.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1586.
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George Peele was an English translator, poet, and dramatist, who is most noted for his supposed but not universally accepted collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play Titus Andronicus. Many anonymous Elizabethan plays have been attributed to him, but his reputation rests mainly on Edward I, The Old Wives' Tale, The Battle of Alcazar, The Arraignment of Paris, and David and Bethsabe. The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, the immediate source for Shakespeare's King John, has been published under his name. However most of the extant Peele records are financial and legal, and none expressly connect him with the canon that bears his name.
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and Mary Browne, daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Shakespeare's two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, were dedicated to Southampton, who is frequently identified as the Fair Youth of Shakespeare's Sonnets.
Locrine is an Elizabethan play depicting the legendary Trojan founders of the nation of England and of Troynovant (London). The play presents a cluster of complex and unresolved problems for scholars of English Renaissance theatre.
Thomas Underdown, also spelled Underdowne, was a translator. He translated the Æthiopian History of Heliodorus in 1569, and the Ibis of Ovid (1577). The Æthiopian History has been called "the ancestor in a direct line of the Novel of Adventure," and praised for anticipating every artifice of the historical novel.
"The King and the Beggar-maid" is a 16th-century broadside ballad that tells of an African king, Cophetua, and his love for the beggar Penelophon. Artists and writers have referenced the story, and King Cophetua has become a byword for "a man who falls in love with a woman instantly and proposes marriage immediately".
Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester, is an Elizabethan-era stage play, a comedy written c. 1590. It was bound together with Mucedorus and The Merry Devil of Edmonton in a volume labelled "Shakespeare. Vol. I" in the library of Charles II. Though scholarly opinion generally does not accept the attribution to William Shakespeare, there are a few who believe they see Shakespeare's hand in this play.
Alexander Cooke was an actor in the King's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the acting companies of William Shakespeare, John Heminges and Richard Burbage.
Perdita is one of the heroines of William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. She is the daughter of Leontes, King of Sicily, and his wife Hermione.
Robert Greene (1558–1592) was an English author popular in his day, and now best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance, widely believed to contain an attack on William Shakespeare. Greene was a popular Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer known for his negative critiques of his colleagues. He is said to have been born in Norwich. He attended Cambridge where he received a BA in 1580, and an M.A. in 1583 before moving to London, where he arguably became the first professional author in England. He was prolific and published in many genres including romances, plays and autobiography.
Cuthbert Burby was a London bookseller and publisher of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. He is known for publishing a series of significant volumes of English Renaissance drama, including works by William Shakespeare, Robert Greene, John Lyly, and Thomas Nashe.
The Thracian Wonder is a stage play of English Renaissance drama, a work that constitutes a long-standing and persistent problem for scholars and historians of the subject.
Will Shakespeare, also known as Life of Shakespeare and William Shakespeare: His Life & Times, is a 1978 historical drama series created and written by John Mortimer. Broadcast in six parts, the series is a dramatisation of the life and times of the great poet William Shakespeare, played by Tim Curry, and was co-produced by Lew Grade's ATV and RAI and distributed internationally by ITC. The two production companies had collaborated the previous year on Jesus of Nazareth.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Francis Sabie was an English poet.
The Winter's Tale is a ballet in three acts choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to a commissioned score by Joby Talbot. The ballet is based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. With scenery and costumes designed by Bob Crowley, lighting designed by Natasha Katz, and special stage effects designed by Daniel Brodie and Basil Twist, it was a co-production of the Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. It was first presented at the Royal Opera House, London, on 10 April 2014. The North American premiere occurred the following year.
The Winter's Tale is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by Thanhouser Company. The plot is an adaptation of The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and requires fore-knowledge of the plot in order to understand the condensed one reel work. The film focuses on the conflict arising from two Kings, one of Bohemia and one of Sicily, during a meeting. Queen Hermione enrages her jealous husband, Leontes, by entertaining Polixenes. Leontes decides to kill him with poison, but the plan is foiled by the courtier tasked with the assassination. For this, Leontes imprisons his wife. Hermione gives birth to a daughter and Leontes orders the baby to die out in the wilderness. Hermione is then brought before the court and apparently dies after interrogation. Fifteen years pass and Polixenes confronts and then secretly follows his son, appearing as he declares his intention to marry a shepherdess. The two lovers seek protection with Leontes, the King of Sicily. Mourning and repentant for his past actions, Leontes learns the shepherdess is his daughter and blesses the marriage of the lovers. The royal party goes to see a statue of the late queen Hermoine which is revealed to be alive. The cast includes Anna Rosemond, Frank H. Crane and Martin Faust, but the directorial and production credits for the film are unknown. The production was a success for the Thanhouser Company and the film was met with positive reception following its May 27, 1910 release. The film survives in the Library of Congress, but it is missing the final scene of the production. The surviving print suffers from significant deterioration.
sources: [Collier's Bibl. Cat. ii. 2, 305–7; Collier's Poet. Decameron, i. 137-41; information kindly supplied by R. E. Graves, esq.]