- Tied, Our Queen?: The Deconstruction Of Presence In The

"‘Tongue-tied, our Queen?’: The Deconstruction of Presence in The Winter’s Tale" in The Uses of the Canon: Elizabethan Literature and Contemporary Theory by Howard Felperin is both insightful and thought provoking. It brings forth the notion that, to paraphrase, a perennial problem of criticism arises whenever a work of literature refers to unrepresented action [1]. With specific reference to “particular interpretive problems” [2] of the text, Felperin’s article alerts the reader of the many subtle tools used within the text and helps them to understand that that which is prescient and that which is known have just as much bearing on the audience’s understanding as that which is absent.
Felperin cogitates on The Winter’s Tale through multiple

His focus on particular interpretive problems of the play, the problems that arise from unrepresented action, and the importance of reader awareness of unrepresented action is a considered decision made in order to allow his argument to be well understood and concurred by his audience. His focus on certain aspects of the play, for instance, information given to characters and the audience from the supernatural world and the “fondness of pagan oracles for ambiguity, obscurantism, equivocation, and verbal trickery” [5], are used as a rhetoric strategy; logos, to appeal to the logic of the

As well as this, romantic conventions and characterisation were not discussed, as these events and issues in the text were not relevant to his argument. By excluding these events and issues from the article, Felperin allows the audience to develop an astute interpretation and opinion of the issues addressed in the article. His analysis of the interpretive and theoretical problems inherent in The Winter’s Tale and the “referential dimension of language” [2] highlights, for the reader, opportunities for more careful consideration of text and an appreciation of the techniques used.
References
[1] Felperin, H, "‘Tongue-tied, our Queen?’: The Deconstruction of Presence in The Winter’s Tale" in The Uses of the Canon: Elizabethan Literature and Contemporary Theory, (Clarendon Paperbacks) Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1992, p.2
[2] Felperin, H, "‘Tongue-tied, our Queen?’: The Deconstruction of Presence in The Winter’s Tale" in The Uses of the Canon: Elizabethan Literature and Contemporary Theory, (Clarendon Paperbacks) Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1992,