Hedeggerian Thinking and The Role of Memory in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale

Abstract

Heidegger’s existentialism goes beyond the limits of the human brain’s functioning where thinking is more than what rationality may generate. In his essay “What is called Thinking?” Heidegger mentions that thinking and thanking are related. This relationship is clarified in Margaret Visser’s The Gift of Thanks, where she describes gratitude emphasizing the role of memory in expressing it. On this basis, one explores how thanking is performed in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale examining both memory and thinking interferences in the course of the characters’ thanking. Leontes sudden jealousy makes him loose all positive thoughts imprisoning Hermione, who expects reward having but obeyed his wishes to convince his friend to stay. After the trial scene, Paulina brings Leontes' recollections into life; by enumerating his wife's amiable personality. In act five, the remorseful king blames himself for his ingratitude. One considers this as the recovery of his memory since “both memory and thanks move their being in the thanc” as Heidegger asserts it. The final scene proves one’s assumption, that to thank is to think where Leontes thanks Paulina graciously by marrying her to his most honest servant Camillo. In short, to utter “thankfulessness would be thoughtlessness”