Clown
Character Description
The Bohemian Shepherd's Son is the Clown of The Winter’s Tale. He and most of Bohemia represents the lighter comedic side as opposed to the more dramatic tragic Sicilia. The Son is usually seen as a simple country booby, but his innocent and almost child like behavior allows a commentary of what is happening in Bohemia without biased opinion. Clowns of Shakespeare are usually one or more of three archetypes: the Smartest, the Wittiest, and most Insightful. The Shepherd's Son is very insightful, taking in most things how they are, relaying this information clearly to the audience. He may not be the smartest or the wittiest, but those two traits are given to Autolycus.
In The Winters Tale, the Son appears with his father just after Antigonis is chased and eaten by the bear. He is the one that actually witnesses not only Antigonis's death, but the sinking of the Mariner's ship. Witnessing these two horrific events, the Son tries to explain what he saw to his father, but is smaller intelligence prevents him from properly giving a tragic tale and instead made it rather comedic. He and his father finds Perdita in the snow and adopts her into their family. His part in Act IV is to provide a foil to Autolycus, the comedic duo that brightens the play from the darkness of Acts I-III. He also plays a large role, with his father and Autolycus, in bringing in proof that Perdita is Leontes's missing child. We finally see him, being knighted by the King and Prince, performing a final act of kindness by forgiving Autolycus of all his sins. These great acts with the Son and Autolycus combine into the role of the Clown of the play.
I had an amazing time learning the role of the Son. I learned the soul of the Clown role in Shakespeare's plays. The experience of combining slapstick humor with witty wording gave me a loop for how to provide actions to the words and words to the actions.
In The Winters Tale, the Son appears with his father just after Antigonis is chased and eaten by the bear. He is the one that actually witnesses not only Antigonis's death, but the sinking of the Mariner's ship. Witnessing these two horrific events, the Son tries to explain what he saw to his father, but is smaller intelligence prevents him from properly giving a tragic tale and instead made it rather comedic. He and his father finds Perdita in the snow and adopts her into their family. His part in Act IV is to provide a foil to Autolycus, the comedic duo that brightens the play from the darkness of Acts I-III. He also plays a large role, with his father and Autolycus, in bringing in proof that Perdita is Leontes's missing child. We finally see him, being knighted by the King and Prince, performing a final act of kindness by forgiving Autolycus of all his sins. These great acts with the Son and Autolycus combine into the role of the Clown of the play.
I had an amazing time learning the role of the Son. I learned the soul of the Clown role in Shakespeare's plays. The experience of combining slapstick humor with witty wording gave me a loop for how to provide actions to the words and words to the actions.