"Standing in Rich Place": The Importance of Context in "The Winter's Tale"

Abstract

When Isabel Archer surprises Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmund in a drawing room, she intuits an abruptly imposed silence.1 Considered by itself, the stillness is not remarkable. It is Madame Merle's standing by the fireplace while Osmund lounges in a deep chair that makes the silence so suggestive. This unusual tableau first causes Isabel to suspect that her husband's and friend's relationship may be more familiar than she imagined. Often in James's novels, social contexts or more precisely, violations of them give statements, and even silences, their special imports. Every reader has his or her favorite scenes demonstrating the importance of context for meaning; examples might be multiplied indefinitely. By identifying the different contexts which an author imposes upon his or her characters, their speeches, and episodes in general, we are obviously aided in interpreting a novel or play. This observation especially applies to Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.2 The Ceres-Persephone myth, the conventions of Renaissance pastoral, the Last Judgment, the Christian soul's pilgrimage to salvation, the Art versus Nature debate these are only a few of the topics that supply contexts for the evaluation of a