The dark comic vision of The Winter's Tale Although Shakespeare's works are generally classified by their adherence to stereotypical definitions of stories, novels, comedies, or tragedies, there are several works that complicate the task of fitting perfectly into these groupings. Many literary critics, in fact, have singled out a handful of plays and labeled them "Problem Plays" because they do not easily fit into any of the four categories, although they loosely adhere to the predicated "formula" of the genre by which they appear in the Folios. While The Winter's Tale is not generally considered a problematic work, it certainly contains elements that greatly complicate our understanding of the term "comedy" and make it difficult to accept the work as such. In this play, Shakespeare's comic vision is so overshadowed by tragic events that it is questionable whether the play will ever recover sufficiently to make the comic ending acceptable. Although The Winter's Tale is considered a comedy in the formal sense (complete with a wedding at the end), it must also be seen as a serious response to tragedy as it not only involves various tragic elements, but also uses them to highlight the contradictory nature and incredible of its comic ending. Through the play's strange construction, the great dramatic risks taken, and the paradoxical conclusion of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare creates a complex work that seems to suggest that categories such as "comedy" are largely ambiguous terms when the intended comic ending is so overshadowed by tragic events that the work has neither the time nor the strength to recover. The strange construction of The Winter's Tale makes it seem, up until...... middle of paper... that Shakespeare was bending the rules or expectations of his audience to see what he could get away with. His method certainly gives rise to very interesting discussions about the plays with which he does so, and makes the entire corpus of his works much richer and more complex. Works cited and consulted Bloom, Harold. The Winter's Tale (modern critical interpretations). Chelsea House Publishers, 1992. Forewords by Granville Barker to Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Winter's Tale: The Tempest. Granville Barker. Heinemann, 1994. Innes, Sheila. The Winter's Tale (Cambridge School Shakespeare). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale. Paul Werstine. Pocket Books, 1998. The Winter's Tale (Norton edition): Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Shakespeare. London, W. W. Norton & Co. 1997