The Winter's Tale

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1. ACT I.

   At the Sicilian court, the long, loving visit of Polixenes of Bohemia turns to disaster when Leontes is seized by jealousy. Convinced his wife and friend are lovers, he orders Camillo to poison Polixenes; Camillo instead warns him, and the two flee to Bohemia.

   1. Scene 1 — Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES' Palace.

      The courtiers Archidamus (of Bohemia) and Camillo (of Sicilia) praise the deep friendship of their two kings, raised together as boys, and the promise of the young prince Mamillius.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A Room of State in the Palace.

      When Polixenes makes to leave, Hermione warmly persuades him to stay — and the sight of her success kindles in Leontes an instant, groundless jealousy. He orders his trusted lord Camillo to poison Polixenes; appalled, Camillo warns Polixenes instead, and the two flee Sicilia together that night.

2. ACT II.

   Leontes tears his son from Hermione, publicly accuses her, and imprisons her, where she bears a daughter. The bold Paulina carries the baby to the king to soften him, but he rejects it as a bastard and commands Antigonus to abandon the infant in some wild place.

   1. Scene 1 — Sicilia. A Room in the Palace.

      Leontes takes Mamillius from his mother, openly accuses Hermione of adultery and pregnancy by Polixenes, and commits her to prison despite his lords' protests. He has sent to Apollo's oracle at Delphos — but vows to act on his own certainty regardless.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. The outer Room of a Prison.

      At the prison, Paulina learns that Hermione has given birth to a daughter; she resolves to carry the baby to Leontes herself, trusting the sight of the innocent child to shame him out of his madness.

   3. Scene 3 — The same. A Room in the Palace.

      Paulina defies the king and lays the newborn before him, denouncing his tyranny; enraged, Leontes nearly has her burned, rejects the child as a bastard, and orders Antigonus to carry it to some remote place and abandon it to chance.

3. ACT III.

   The oracle declares Hermione innocent, but Leontes denies it — and is struck by news of Mamillius's death; the queen collapses and is reported dead. On the far coast of Bohemia, Antigonus leaves the baby and is killed by a bear, and an old shepherd finds the child.

   1. Scene 1 — Sicilia. A Street in some Town.

      Returning from Delphos, the envoys Cleomenes and Dion marvel at the temple and the oracle, and hope its sealed answer will clear the queen.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A Court of Justice

      At Hermione's trial she defends herself with grave dignity. Apollo's oracle is read aloud — she is chaste, Leontes a jealous tyrant, 'and the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found.' Leontes blasphemously rejects it; word comes that Mamillius has died of grief, the queen swoons and is carried off, reported dead, and the stricken king repents.

   3. Scene 3 — Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea.

      On the Bohemian coast Antigonus lays down the baby with gold and the name 'Perdita,' recounts a dream of Hermione, and makes his famous exit 'pursued by a bear.' An old shepherd finds the child — 'thou met'st with things dying, I with things new-born' — and resolves to raise her.

4. ACT IV.

   Time leaps sixteen years to Bohemia. Polixenes and Camillo plan to spy on Prince Florizel's love for a shepherdess; at the sheep-shearing feast — enlivened by the thieving balladeer Autolycus — Florizel and Perdita pledge their love, Polixenes reveals himself and forbids the match in fury, and Camillo sends the lovers fleeing to Sicilia.

   1. Scene 1

      Time, as Chorus, turns his glass and slides over sixteen years, carrying the story from Leontes's grief to Bohemia, where Perdita has grown up and Polixenes's son Florizel loves her.

   2. Scene 2 — Bohemia. A Room in the palace of POLIXENES.

      Polixenes and the homesick Camillo discuss the prince's neglect of the court for a shepherd's daughter; the king proposes they go in disguise to the sheep-shearing to discover the truth.

   3. Scene 3 — The same. A Road near the Shepherd's cottage.

      The merry rogue Autolycus — peddler, ballad-seller, and pickpocket — sings of spring and the open road, then picks the pocket of the Clown by pretending to have been robbed and beaten.

   4. Scene 4 — The same. A Shepherd's Cottage.

      At the sheep-shearing feast Perdita, queen of the day, gives out flowers and pledges love with the disguised Florizel. Autolycus sells ballads and trinkets and cuts purses. Polixenes and Camillo, disguised, watch; when Florizel betroths himself, the king reveals himself and furiously forbids the match, threatening Perdita and the shepherd. Camillo, longing for home, secretly steers the desperate lovers to take ship for Sicilia, and turns Autolycus's tricks to use.

5. ACT V.

   In Sicilia the still-grieving Leontes welcomes Florizel and Perdita; Polixenes arrives in pursuit, and the discovery of Perdita's tokens reveals her as the lost princess. Reconciled, the company goes to Paulina's house, where a 'statue' of Hermione comes to life.

   1. Scene 1 — Sicilia. A Room in the palace of LEONTES.

      Leontes, sixteen years penitent and urged by Paulina never to remarry, receives the fugitive Florizel and Perdita warmly — until news comes that Polixenes has followed them to Sicilia.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. Before the Palace.

      Gentlemen breathlessly report the off-stage wonders: the shepherd's tokens prove Perdita to be Leontes's lost daughter, the kings are reconciled, and all hurry to Paulina's to see a newly finished statue of Hermione by the master Giulio Romano. Autolycus hears how the shepherd and Clown have been made gentlemen.

   3. Scene 3 — The same. A Room in PAULINA's house.

      At Paulina's house a lifelike statue of Hermione is unveiled. As music plays, Paulina bids it descend; the 'statue' steps down alive, the long-lost queen restored to her husband and to the daughter she never knew. Forgiveness is sealed and Paulina matched with Camillo.

Characters

• Leontes protagonist

  King of Sicilia. Seized by a sudden, groundless jealousy that his pregnant wife Hermione loves his boyhood friend Polixenes, he orders Polixenes poisoned, imprisons Hermione, defies Apollo's oracle, and so causes the death of his son Mamillius, the apparent death of his wife, and the casting-away of his newborn daughter. Sixteen years of penance later, daughter and wife are miraculously restored to him.

• Hermione deuteragonist

  Queen of Sicilia, wife of Leontes, falsely accused of adultery with Polixenes. Pregnant at her arrest, she bears a daughter in prison, defends herself with grave dignity at her trial, and collapses at the news of her son's death. Reported dead, she is kept hidden by Paulina for sixteen years and revealed at the close as a living 'statue.'

• Polixenes major

  King of Bohemia and Leontes's boyhood friend, whose long visit triggers Leontes's jealousy. Warned by Camillo that Leontes means to poison him, he flees home. Sixteen years later he furiously opposes his son Florizel's love for the shepherdess Perdita — not knowing she is a princess.

• Camillo major

  An honest Sicilian lord. Ordered to poison Polixenes, he warns him instead and flees with him to Bohemia, where he serves sixteen years. Homesick, he helps the eloping Florizel and Perdita to Sicilia, engineering the reunions that end the play.

• Paulina major

  A great-hearted noblewoman, wife of Antigonus and Hermione's fearless champion. She denounces Leontes to his face, brings him the newborn princess, and after the queen's reported death keeps her secretly alive for sixteen years, finally staging the 'awakening' of Hermione's statue.

• Perdita deuteragonist

  The lost daughter ('Perdita') of Leontes and Hermione, abandoned as an infant on the Bohemian coast and raised by an old shepherd. Grown into a queen of the sheep-shearing feast, she is loved by Prince Florizel; her royal birth is revealed and she is restored to her parents.

• Florizel major

  Prince of Bohemia, son of Polixenes. Wooing the shepherdess Perdita under the name 'Doricles,' he defies his father's rage and flees with her to Sicilia, where her true parentage is discovered and their match blessed.

• Autolycus supporting

  A roguish peddler, ballad-seller, and pickpocket — once in Prince Florizel's service. A merry trickster, he robs the Clown, fleeces the shepherds at the sheep-shearing, and stumbles his way into helping the plot toward its happy end.

• Shepherd supporting

  The old shepherd who finds the abandoned baby Perdita with her gold and tokens and raises her as his own — meeting 'things new-born' as Antigonus meets 'things dying.' His honest household hosts the sheep-shearing feast.

• Clown supporting

  The old Shepherd's son, a good-natured simpleton who witnesses the shipwreck and the bear, is gulled and robbed by Autolycus, and is raised to gentility when Perdita's royalty is revealed.

• Antigonus supporting

  A Sicilian lord, husband of Paulina. Forced to swear he will abandon the infant princess, he carries her to the Bohemian coast, lays her down with gold and a name, and makes his celebrated exit 'pursued by a bear.'

• Mamillius minor

  The young prince of Sicilia, Leontes and Hermione's son, who begins to tell a 'sad tale... of sprites and goblins.' He sickens at his mother's disgrace and dies — the innocent casualty of his father's jealousy.

• Time chorus

  Time, personified as the Chorus, who steps forward at the opening of Act 4 to 'slide o'er sixteen years,' turning his glass to carry the story from Leontes's grief in Sicilia to Perdita grown up in Bohemia. The hinge of the play's two halves.

• Archidamus minor

  A lord of Bohemia who, in the opening scene, trades courtesies with Camillo about the friendship of the two kings.

• Cleomenes minor

  A Sicilian lord sent with Dion to consult Apollo's oracle at Delphos; later he urges the penitent Leontes to forgive himself.

• Dion minor

  A Sicilian lord sent with Cleomenes to the oracle at Delphos.

• Emilia minor

  A lady attending the imprisoned Hermione, who carries news between the queen and Paulina.

• Mopsa minor

  A shepherdess at the sheep-shearing, courted by the Clown and eager for Autolycus's ballads.

• Dorcas minor

  A shepherdess at the sheep-shearing feast who quarrels with Mopsa over the Clown.

• First Lord minor

  A lord of Sicilia attending Leontes.

• Lord minor

  An attending lord at the Sicilian court.

• Lords ensemble

  Sicilian lords speaking together.

• First Lady minor

  A lady attending Hermione, playing with the young Mamillius.

• Second Lady minor

  A lady attending Hermione.

• First Gentleman minor

  One of the gentlemen who report the wonders of the recognition and reunion in Act 5.

• Second Gentleman minor

  One of the gentlemen who narrate the off-stage reunions in Act 5.

• Third Gentleman minor

  The gentleman (Paulina's steward) who describes the meeting of the kings and the finding of Perdita in Act 5.

• Gentleman minor

  A gentleman of the Sicilian court.

• Servant minor

  A servant at court or at the shepherd's feast, announcing arrivals.

• Officer minor

  An officer of the court who reads the indictment at Hermione's trial.

• Crier minor

  The court crier who summons Hermione to her trial.

• Keeper minor

  The gaoler who keeps the imprisoned Hermione and reluctantly yields her baby to Paulina.

• Mariner minor

  The master of the ship that carries Antigonus and the baby to Bohemia, uneasy at the gathering storm.

• First Attendant minor

  An attendant at the Sicilian court.

• Second Attendant minor

  An attendant at the Sicilian court.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia