A Feminist Reading of The Winter's Tale In the Shakespearean tragedies we have studied, we have been exposed to tragic male protagonists who create their own downfall. Within these tragedies, Shakespeare's female characters are invested with varying degrees of power compared to tragic heroes. Thinking back to Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, The Winter's Tale can be seen as an extension of the exploration of the nature of women and power addressed in his earlier tragedies, as well as an amendment to the misogynistic attitudes they contain. during class discussions, we were irritated by a condition that we found prevalent in both Othello and King Lear; both of these plays end with the deaths of two innocent women: Desdemona and Cordelia. Not only are these women innocent, but they are by far the most benevolent and forgiving female characters in the play, little deserving of their violent ends. During this discussion, we also added Ophelia to the list of innocent women who die at Shakespeare's hands and wondered whether the playwright was rewarding, punishing, or martyring these women. Although the question was raised, we were unable to find a satisfactory answer. In examining the "evil" female characters we have encountered in Shakespeare's tragedies: Regan, Goneril, and Lady Macbeth, the main corrupting factor connecting these women is their desire for or exercise of power. By comparing these women to Desdemona and Cordelia, who give up their power to men, the concept of "good" and "bad" women in Shakespeare's tragedies becomes overly simplified. But the tragedy itself seems to contribute to this oversimplification. In a genre that must end with the death of its main characters,... the center of paper...y, Mary and Jane Caputi. Webster's first new intergalactic Wickedary in the English language. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987. Dash, Irene. Courtship, marriage and power: women in Shakespeare's plays. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.McLuskie, Kathleen. "The Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism and Shakespeare." Political Shakespeare: New Essays on Cultural Materialism. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield, editors. London: Cornell Univ. Press, 1985.Neeley, Carol Thomas. "The Winter's Tale: Women and Problems" (1985). Reprinted in the classic Signet edition of The Winter's Tale. New York: Penguin, 1988. Pyle, Fitzroy. The Winter's Tale: A Comment on Structure. New York: Routledge & Paul, 1969. Schweickart, Patronage. "Read ourselves." Speaking of gender. Elaine Showalter, editor. New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1989.