VII
A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT
Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a way as to unify the plot? Does Autolycus contribute anything to the development of the plot? How does it compare with "Julius Cæsar" or "Macbeth," for example, in the construction of the plot? Is the movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first? Note the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of time between the first part and the last part; compare with other examples of the same sort in Shakespeare.
QUERY FOR DISCUSSION
Does the dramatic interest of 'The Winter's Tale' suffer because the plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters.