The Winter's Tale
Main Characters
Leontes — the king of Sicilia
Hermione — Leontes's queen
Perdita — the daughter of Leontes and Hermione
Polixenes — the king of Bohemia, and Leontes's boyhood friend
Florizel — Polixenes's only son and heir
Camillo — a Sicilian nobleman
Paulina — a noblewoman of Sicily
Autolycus — a roguish peddler
Shepherd — he finds Perdita as a baby and raises her as his own daughter
Antigonus — Paulina's husband
Clown — Perdita's adopted brother
Mamillius — the young prince of Sicilia
Cleomenes — a Lord of Sicilia
Dion — a Sicilian lord
Emilia — one of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting
Archidamus — a Lord of Bohemia
Introduction
The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's last plays, written and performed around 1611. It joins Cymbeline and The Tempest in the list of genre-defying plays that are usually referred to as tragicomedies or romances.
There is no one source for The Winter's Tale, although Shakespeare relied heavily on Pandosto, a 1588 prose romance by Robert Greene, a university-trained London writer. In 1592 Green wrote a pamphlet accusing a young Shakespeare of being an untalented, “upstart Crow” who stole from other writers. The story of the abandoned royal baby probably comes from popular folklore, while Hermione's resurrection at the end of the play is obviously from the Greek myth of Pygmalion, in which a sculptor's work comes to life.
The Play
Leontes's friend Polixenes of Bohemia thinks he should return to his kingdom after spending time with his old school friend. Leontes asks his wife, Hermione, to try to persuade Polixenes to stay longer. Because Hermione succeeds, Leontes starts to think she is having an affair with Polixenes. His jealousy gets the better of him, and Leontes decides to kill Polixenes.
The play has been a favorite of directors and audiences since it was first presented. In a number of productions the roles of Hermione and Perdita have been played by the same actress, notably Dame Judi Dench in 1969. Other productions have starred Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, and Jeremy Irons.
Camillo warns Polixenes and the two men escape to Bohemia. Leontes has Hermione tried for adultery, despite the fact that the Delphic oracle proclaims her innocent. While in prison, Hermione gives birth to a daughter, which Leontes orders killed. He is persuaded to spare the child's life, but orders Antigonus to abandon the baby. Antigonus does so, on the nonexistent “Coast of Bohemia,” where he is soon eaten by a bear. (This is the occasion of one of Shakespeare's classic stage directions: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”)
Leontes' son, Mamillius, dies from grief over his mother's predicament. Hermione is next reported dead by her maid, Paulina. The shock seems to bring Leontes to his senses. He is overcome by grief and guilt and goes into seclusion.
The abandoned baby, Perdita, is found by a shepherd, who raises her as his daughter. Sixteen years later, Florizel, Polixenes' son meets Perdita, and the two fall in love. Polixenes, however, is not happy that his son is in love with a peasant girl, so Florizel and Perdita decide to flee to Sicilia, aided by old Camillo.
Florizel and Perdita are welcomed at the court of Leontes. Polixenes follows them, and reconciles with Leontes. Perdita is revealed to be a princess, and Leontes and Polixenes are delighted that their children are in love.
Leontes's happiness is tempered by the bitter memory of Hermione's death. Paulina takes Leontes and the court to see a statue of the queen, which magically comes to life. It seems the queen has been hiding for the past sixteen years. Thus Leontes is finally reunited with his wife, daughter, best friend, and closest advisor. Even Paulina regains a husband when Leontes agrees to marry her to Camillo.
Commentary
The Winter's Tale is perhaps Shakespeare's best tragicomedy. It is set in an imaginary world where ancient Greek oracles coexist with Renaissance sculptors, and it offers an Othello-like tragedy that magically culminates in the all's well that end's well finale of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.
The play is almost seasonal in structure. The first half is wintry and chilly, emotionally cold, and dominated by a fit of jealous madness and rage that seems so destructive that even an innocent child may not escape.
But sixteen years pass, and Leontes's madness passes. The second half of the play is springlike, and the destruction the king's madness created is ploughed under. Through coincidence, goodwill, and the magic of growth and renewal, a statue of his dead wife comes to life and embraces him.
The problem plays deal with death and the power of evil, and in The Winter's Tale, we are given an ending where death is literally banished from the stage.
Like King Lear, this play deals with the anarchy unleashed because of the main character's self-absorbed madness. When Leontes is told that there is “nothing” between Hermione and Polixenes, he declares, “Why, then the world and all that's in 'tis nothing.” When he finally comes to his senses, all Leontes can offer by way of explanation for his behavior is, “I have drunk, and seen the spider.”
If Leontes is a potential tragic hero, Perdita is clearly a fairy-tale princess reared among commoners who falls in love with a prince and discovers her nobility quite naturally. The miracle of Hermione's resurrection at the play's close is an appropriate ending to a play about death (winter) and rebirth (spring).
Famous Lines
“They say we are
“To unpathed waters, undreamed shores” (Act IV, Scene IV).
