“With what's unreal thou coactive art”: the problem and possibilities of beauty in The Winter's Tale

Abstract

The concept of beauty is routinely addressed in early modern literature. In this analysis I focus on a specific aspect – the response to beauty – primarily in relation to Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. I also examine “beauty” in the play to explore the relationships between a range of discourses: Neoplatonism, Protestant grace, and the Levinasian “ethical.” I consider Florizel's wish to see Perdita's beauty as “move still, still so” – his impulse to make the experience of beauty infinitely present and available – as a critical moment that reveals the paradoxes of responding to beauty. Contrary to what critics have said about Florizel redeeming the destructive effects of Leontes' enraged mind, with his infamous “affection” speech in particular, I argue that far from remedying Leontes' mistakes, Florizel is inadvertently repeating them. Working through similar moments of complex engagements with beauty leads me to contend that the play does not end with the resolution of a romance, but in a suspended repetitive movement of violence, a movement that displays the complexity not just of Shakespeare's art, but of this thought.