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Alliteration
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Key Examples in The Winter's Tale
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—Apollo's Prophecy:
Allusions to Apollo abound throughout The Winter's Tale. In particular, Apollo plays a key role in Act 3, Scene 2, in which Leontes sends Cleomenes and Dion to bring a written oracle from Apollo to confirm or deny Hermione's guilt. The oracle confirms that "Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten." However, Leontes immediately denies the truth of the oracle, stating that "There is no truth at all i' the oracle." Leontes's willingness to turn a blind eye even to divine proof of Hermione's innocence emphasizes how intractable Leontes's delusion has become. Moreover, the fact that the death of Mamillius and the presumed one of Hermione occur directly after Leontes rejects the oracle insinuates that the universe of the play operates according to a divine order in which those who show disrespect toward the gods are duly punished.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Classical Transformations:
In Act 4, Scene 4, Perdita expresses her anxiety about the class difference between her and Florizell. She worries that they are both dressed inappropriately for their status: Florizell is dressed as a shepherd despite being a prince, while Perdita is dressed as a princess despite (supposedly) being a Shepherd's daughter. In response, Florizell alludes to figures from Greek and Roman mythology who disguise themselves to woo beautiful women:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them. Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellowed; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,
As I seem now.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Proserpina and Dis:
In Act 4, Scene 4, Perdita alludes to figures from classical mythology while selecting flowers for the Shepherdesses: "O Proserpina, / For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let’st fall / From Dis’s wagon!" Perdita's allusion to the myth of Proserpina, who was abducted by the god of the underworld, Dis, and returned to the earth after six months, foreshadows her own return from Bohemia to her home in Sicilia.
Perdita also goes on to allude to Phoebus, the Roman name for Apollo, who is the source of the play's central prophecy:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids
