'The Winters Tale' seems to adhere to the genre of tragicomedy perfectly as the play is infact in two halves, tragedy and comedy, as the genre's name would imply. The idea that it is a picture made of two halves, winter and summer, seems to be a good way of describing the separate genres in the play. The first three acts of the play deal with winter and the unhappiness and death of characters, and the last two acts deal with the spring or summer and renew relationships lost and bring love and romance to the play. Therefore the statement about winter and summer can help to show the idea of tragicomedy, and highlight the difference between the tragedy and the comedy in the play as Shakespeare has done.
             Shakespeare uses the idea of time to bridge the gap between the three acts of unremitting tragedy and the last two acts of restorable comedy. Sixteen years pass between the two genres, which allows for the change between the two halves and for the themes and settings of the second half. Although this idea of time follows with both the statement and with the idea of tragicomedy, it also shows that Shakespeare is adding to this genre his own ideas. The idea that time not only changes the seasons and with that the happiness of certain characters, but also that time can not fully redeem the wrongdoings of characters before. By the end of the play, although it is summer and the comedy section of the play, Shakespeare does not bring back Mamillius, Leontes son. The audience would notice that although Leontes is allowed Hermionie to come back to life through miracle, he has still lost what would be the heir to the throne. He cannot now keep the throne in the family name because of his jealousy and temper of the first tragic half. Melissa Colleen Stevenson said that 'jealousy in the court of Sicilia produces a spiritual climate of winter' which is very true of 'The Winter's Tale'. It is a diptych of winter and summe...