Kelly Hannah Summary Analysis for The Winters Tale. ______________________________________________________________________________ Complete MLA Ciation: Bloom, Gina.

Boy Eternal: Aging, Games, and Masculinity in The Winters Tale. English Literary Renesaince 40.3 (2010): 329-356. Print. In the article, Gina Bloom discusses how the concept of masculinity is a driving force throughout The Winters Tale and how boyhood is presented to be on a continuum with that of manhood. Bloom asserts that her essay investigates, the psychic and cultural work performed by aging mens nostalgia for boyhood play (330). Bloom explores this theme through using a historicist lens to problematize the psychoanalytic approaches to masculinity and compares this play to other literary texts written about the masculinity in the play (331). When reading this play, both Leontes and Polixnes could be considered to be having a difficult time dealing with the aging process and often times are seen looking to their sons in order to confront their anxieties about aging (330). Bloom emphasizes the key aspect of the masculinity theme, which is the back-and-forth of boyhood and manhood within the play as well as the main male characters inability to cope with the loss of boyhood. Readers can see how the difference between boyhood and manhood completely collapse when it comes to the relationship between Leontes and Polixnes in the play (337). Early on in the text, the readers see that Leontes and Polixnes enjoy discussing their younger years and how they wished to be boy eternal (1.2.66). Leontes urging of Polixnes to stay in Sicilia longer is his way of wanting to rekindle their young, boyish ways that they experienced together before they assumed the position of grown men who have responsibilities. Although Leontes reaction upon hearing Hermoine convincing Polixnes to stay has been critically analyzed as jealousy on Leontes part, Bloom asserts that Leontes is equally fixated on the ways his wife has become a rival for his friends affection (338). When Hermoine says, The one for ever earned a royal husband; / Thother, for some while a friend, Leontes blurs the line between husband and friend and inevitably becomes paranoid on this friendship between Hermoine and Polixnes (1.2.108-109). Leontes struggle with the lost boyhood friendship he once had with Polixnes to that allegedly of his wife, is a turning point in this play. At the end of his rant about the relationship between Hermoine and Polixnes, Leontes turns to his son, Mamillius, and says, Art thou my boy? (1.2.122). Leontes uses his son Mamillius as a connection to the boyhood relationship he once had with Polixnes, and inevitably Mamillius serves as a boyhood friend to him. Although the focus of lost boyhood is mostly centered on Leontes throughout most of the article, Bloom does focus on Polixenes reaction at the end of the play. When Polixenes states that, She embraces him, after Hermoine embraces Leontes, he seems to remove himself from the emotional ending between Hermoine and Leontes at the end of the play. Polixenes reaction to this embrace between Leontes and Hermoine make him realize that now Leontes no longer shares his emotions exclusively for him (355). Gina Bloom has been a faculty member at UC Davis since 2007, and has taught at various universities including the University of Iowa and Lawrence University. Her interests lie primarily on studying early modern English literature, most specifically Shakespeare and drama. Her focus on the games and masculinity in the early modern English theatre are apparent in this article as well. This article appeared in the English Literary Renaissance, which is a journal devoted to current criticism and scholarship of the time period of 1485-1665.

This article took an interesting approach to explaining the actions of the characters Leontes and Polixenes. By comparing her views on the text and comparing them to other authors work was enlightening, because it justified her reasoning behind the masculinity theme more. Bloom was able to shed an interesting light on how much the issue of boyhood and manhood affect the events in the play.