The Relationships Between Fathers and Daughters in 'Titus Andronicus' and 'The Winter's Tale' Anonymous College

Explore the relationship between fathers and sons, or fathers and daughters, in two of the plays we have studied. Freud hypothesized that, “The earliest affection of the girl-child is lavished on the father”[1] Shakespeare seems to explore the father-daughter dynamic in intimate detail, perhaps as a way of emphasising the themes of gender and generation, and how these thing impact individuals within a family setting, particularly in the context of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In both Titus Andronicus[2] and The Winter’s Tale[3], we see the father-daughter dynamic exemplified and thrown into the spotlight. In Titus Andronicus, it is the titular character’s relationship with his only daughter Lavinia which allows the audience to empathise with both Lavinia and her distraught father, Titus. In The Winter’s Tale, we see a far more complex relationship between Perdita and her biological father, King Leontes, and in contrast a more nurturing relationship between Perdita and the shepherd who raised her.

The Winter’s Tale, first listed as a comedy by Shakespeare, is now considered to be in fact a Romantic play, as it portrays the key themes of love, separation and reunion, all of which can be seen in the...