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Larissa Barkley
Doctor Stockton
ENGL 4110
April 20, 2015
The Winter’s Tale: “Exit, pursued by a bear” as a transition into the pastoral
We encounter many things in Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale. The play is layered
with jealousies, betrayals, and (more surprisingly) a bear. The famous stage direction “Exit,
pursued by a bear” has puzzled theatre lovers for centuries. The bear has been the center of
debates with regards to how it was intended to be performed. Were the actors supposed to dress
up? Was there really supposed to be a live bear on the stage? Does having live animals in the
play take the theatre too far? Most of the controversy surrounding the bear has focused on these
aspects of how the stage direction should be acted out. A few critics have ventured courageously
into critiquing the bear’s meaning to the actual play itself though. They had the courage to take
on the bear, and so do I. Critic Lowell Duckert argues, among other things, that the bear is
supposed to be a polar bear, in order to further emphasize the winter aspect in the play1. Critic
Michael Bristol sees the bear as a symbol of spaciotemporal form, sexuality and even tyrannical
ruling2. Though I don’t agree that the bear necessarily has to be a polar bear, I plan to expand on
Bristol’s idea of the bear as a symbol. I will argue that the bear is used as an essential transitional
symbol that signifies the move from courtly life into pastoral life in The Winter’s Tale.
First, I will discuss how exactly the bear serves as transition between the court and the
pastoral. In Duckert’s article titled “Exit, pursued by a polar bear,” he states that “The Winter’s
1 See Duckert’s article“Exit,pursued by a polar bear” for more information aboutthis argument.
2 See Bristol’s article“In Search of the Bear: Spatiotemporal Form and the Heterogenity of Economies in 'The
Winter's Tale'.”

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Tale is known for its obsession with transitions: a seasonal change from winter (Sicily) to spring
(Bohemia), a shift in genre from tragedy to comedy, even transnational movements across space”
(Duckert 3). These transitions are anticipated through examining the bear’s symbolic purpose.
The pastoral tradition idealizes rural life. Pastoral works deal with the desire to return to a
simpler and more innocent lifestyle. The pastoral tradition also includes discussions between
characters usually on the topic of love. Though critics identify the main pastoral scene to be in
act four of the play, I argue that the pastoral scene in The Winter’s Tale begins with the bear in
act three, scene three of the play. The bear is representative of nature in the play. Therefore I
argue that it is thusly representative of the pastoral tradition, because the pastoral is always set in
natural pastures or gardens. The connection of the bear as representative of nature and the
pastoral is important to keep in mind for the rest of this paper. The bear is a representative figure
that illustrates Shakespeare’s abrupt move from the courtly life to the pastoral. The bear is
supposed to be on the seacoast of Bohemia, which is extremely unusual and odd geographically
speaking. The bear is in an unusual place for a bear to be and juxtaposes the natural world with
the city life of maritime Bohemia. The bear (representative of the pastoral) attacks and ultimately
devours a humble servant to the king (Antigonus) which shows the literal take-over of courtly
life by the pastoral. This is not a small factor that we should dismiss. This already shows that
Shakespeare is critiquing the pastoral, rather than simply writing in it. He has made the natures’
representative act maliciously and aggressively. Already the pastoral, or the bear, is not as serene
as it is perceived to be. Essentially, the bear symbolizes the move from the court life to the
pastoral because it inserts itself into a place it doesn’t belong, connecting nature with a popular
trade place like the coast of Bohemia. This is similar to the way Shakespeare inserts the pastoral
into a place where it doesn’t necessarily belong.

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Moving away from exploring the bear as a transitional element, I am now going to
discuss how Shakespeare uses the bear to introduce the topic of hybridity within the play.
Shakespeare uses the bear to introduce the topic of hybridity because, as previously discussed,
the bear is joining two different things together. The bear itself is a hybrid, and therefore starts
the conversation of hybridity in the play. This is because the bear is representing the pastoral
tradition in a scene that is everything but pastoral. The bear is one example of hybridity because
it shows the creative joining of anger and peace. The pastoral tradition is necessarily peaceful,
while the gruesome act of devouring Antigonus portrays anger. This juxtaposition allows for
Shakespeare to cleverly introduce the topic of hybridity, which I will argue is then carried on
through the play until the end.
Now that I have showed how the bear introduces hybridity to the play, I will now show
how the pastoral itself is hybrid. The pastoral tradition, as mentioned before, is necessarily
peaceful. It deals with the desire to move towards a life of innocence and simplicity through the
idealization of rural life. We see the peaceful aspect of the pastoral scene in act four when we
find out that Perdita’s new caretakers are a clown and a shepherd. These occupations are viewed
as less than strenuous in society, which reemphasizes the pastoral desire for a simplistic life.
Rather than idealizing the traditional values of love and justice that the pastoral typically does,
Shakespeare adds the element of evil to the play. Autolycus is a character that is used in the
pastoral setting to show that hybridity I talked about earlier. He is a con-man who takes
advantage of the trusting nature of people living in the country. Critic Craig Horton accurately
portrays this situation in his article titled “The Country must Diminish: Jacobean London and the
Production of Pastoral Space in The Winter's Tale.” He states, “on the surface, Bohemia can
appear a pastoral retreat or sanctuary, but it is also a place where a man might easily be robbed or

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killed, or both” (Horton 97). Shakespeare includes Autolycus to bring in that level of evil that is
often associated with the court. He is used in the play to insert the presence of the court into the
peaceful and trusting farm life. In act four, scene three of The Winter’s Tale, Autolycus is given
the stage direction “[picks his pocket]” (Shakespeare sd line 77). Autolycus is written as an
indisputably evil character who has come to steal from people. He continues to take advantage of
people at the festival. The pastoral is corrupted by the presence of this courtly figure. Autolycus
symbolizes the evil that the bear introduces into the play earlier on. Merely having the play
include the unfitting pastoral scene is showing Shakespeare’s mastery over the concept of
hybridity. He juxtaposes courtly life with the pastoral through the use of these hybrids.
I will now discuss how the hybridity shown in the play so far leads into the ultimate
grafting situation. The bear and the pastoral scene are anticipating the ultimate hybrid: Perdita.
Perdita is the ultimate mixture between the court and the pastoral. She was abandoned as a baby,
and essentially adopted by nature. The bear acted as a sort of maternal figure to Perdita,
protecting her against what the bear perceived to be a threat (aka Antigonus). In this way, Perdita
was born a royal, yet raised in and by nature. Though she was raised outside of the court, she still
displays courtly mannerisms and has the class of nobility, which even further emphasizes her
hybrid up-bringing3. Her blatant hybridity is astounding in the play. Shakespeare even goes so
far as to openly acknowledge the fact that Perdita looks like a hybrid. Polixenes notices she is
“the prettiest low-born lass that ever ran on the greensward” (Shakespeare 4.4.156-157). Like the
bear, she looks out of place in her surroundings. She has the class of a lady, yet the memories of
a farm girl. She is even the product of a union between nations, the cross-cultural hybrid of
3 See W. Scott’s article“Seasons and Flowers in The Winter’s Tale” page 414 for more conversation about
Polixenes’incorrectjudgment.

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Sicily and Russia4. She raises the concept of hybridity in the play herself in act four scene four.
Perdita tells Polixenes:
“Sir, the year growing ancient,
Not yet on summer’s death, nor on the birth
Of trembling winter, the fairest flow’rs o’th’ season
Are our carnations, and streaked gillyvors,
Which some call Nature’s bastards; of that kind
Our rustic garden’s barren; and I care not
To get slips of them.” (4.4.79-84).
She shows her ironic distain for the “gillyvors” which are hybrid flowers. This is, of course,
ironic because she herself is the “nature’s bastard.” This leads to the also ironic statement that
Polixenes shares in response to Perdita’s distain. “Make your garden rich in gillyvors, and do not
call them bastards” (Shakespeare 4.4.97-98). It is ironic that Polixenes accepts the concept of
grafting, or hybridity, in the context of flowers because he is so unaccepting of Perdita and
Florizel’s relationship. I would also argue that Polixenes himself is an example of hybridity
because he is a king in the pastoral setting, which goes against the tradition itself. To further
graft him with his rural surroundings, he disguises himself. However, when he reveals himself,
he brings a Leontes-like rage into the serenity of the pastoral5. This once again shows two very
unlike things, joined together in this play. This is just one more example of hybridity found in
The Winter’s Tale.
Now, let’s review and wrap up. I have argued that the bear serves as a transitional
element that moves us from the court life into the pastoral. The bear juxtaposes the violence and
corruption seen in city life with the safe and relaxing scenery found in the pastoral setting. The
bear also introduces the concept of hybridity to the play. Hybridity is a theme heavily carried
4 See Desai’s article"Whatmeans Sicilia? Hesomething seems unsettled": Sicily,Russia,and Bohemia i n "The
Winter's Tale" pages 321-322
5 See Horton’s articlepage104 for more on the comparison of Polixenes’rage atFlorizel and the rage Leontes
displaysin thebeginning of the play towards Hermione.

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throughout the play. We see an example of a hybrid with the bear on the seacoast of Bohemia
where it inserts itself as a symbol for nature into an ideally busy economic hub. We also see a
hybrid in Shakespeare including the pastoral into a play that is mostly concerned with court life.
We have also seen a hybrid in the pastoral scenery when we look at the evil intentions of
Autolycus within the innocent set of a harvest festival. We continue to see examples of hybridity
with Perdita and Florizel’s relationship, Polixenes’ disguised appearance in the pastoral setting,
and ultimately in Perdita herself. Perdita is the ultimate hybrid. She is grafted in her looks, her
mannerisms, her blood line, her memories and her childhood. She is the ultimate gillyvor. Since
the bear is used to address and introduce the topic of hybridity, it is only fitting that it be shown
as Perdita’s maternal protector at the beginning of Perdita’s life. The bear’s transition to the
pastoral is crucial to the understanding of hybridity in The Winter’s Tale.0

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Bibliography
Bristol, M. D. (1991). In Search of the Bear:Spatiotemporal Form and the Heterogenity of Economies in
'The Winter's Tale'. Shakespeare Quarterly,145-167.
Desai, R. W. (1996). "What means Sicilia? He something seems unsettled": Sicily, Russia, and Bohemia
in "The Winter's Tale". Comparative Drama,311-324.
Duckert, L. (2013). Exit, Pursued by a Polar Bear. Upstart.
Horton, C. (2003). The Country must Diminish: Jacobean London and the Production of PastoralSpace in
The Winter's Tale. Project Muse,85-107.
Scott, W. O. (1963). Seasons and Flowers in The Winter's Tale. Shakespeare Quarterly,411-417.
Shakespeare,W. (1998). The Winter's Tale. New York:Signet Classic Printing.