SOURCE: Kitch, Aaron. “Bastards and Broadsides in The Winter's Tale.” Renaissance Drama 30 (2001): 43-71.

In the following excerpt, Kitch examines Shakespeare's representation of the print industry as a metaphor for paternity and illegitimacy in The Winter's Tale. According to Kitch, this theme touches on broader Jacobean anxieties with regard to reproduction in both the sexual sense—such as concerns about adultery and bastardy—and in the textual sense—such as the difficulty authorities had in monitoring and regulating rapidly produced printed matter. Hermione's restoration in the statue scene (V.iii) represents a triumph, the critic concludes, of live theater over the court's desire to regulate the printing press and paternal legitimacy.

In act 2 of The Winter's Tale, Paulina boldly appears before King Leontes and his court with the newborn Perdita in her arms. Her self-appointed mission is to convince them that the infant she carries is legitimate. Imploring the...