Autolycus

Abstract

If the stage direction ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’ [III.iii.57] may be taken to end the first part of The Winter’s Tale, ‘Enter Autolycus, singing’ may be taken to begin the second [IV.iii.0; repeated at IV.iv.2191. The play is sparse in such instructions but these two help make up by their laconic directness. Yet the apparent contrast between bizarre horror and carefree entertainment is not as neat as it seems. Just as the Clown’s description makes Antigonus’s death grotesquely comic as well as horrifying, so Autolycus is not simply a source of melodious humour.