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Summary and Analysis of Act 1
Summary Scene i:Scene One is a short conversation between Archidamus, a Bohemian courtier, and Camillo, a Sicilian courtier and trusted friend of Leontes, King of Sicilia. Archidamus praises the generous hospitality he has been treated to in Sicilia, apologizing for any inadequacies Camillo might experience should he travel to Bohemia. Camillo talks about the friendship between Leontes and Polixenes, King of Bohemia. The two rulers were raised together since boyhood, although now their responsibilities as kings keep them apart. Both courtiers agree that Prince Mamillius of Sicilia shows great promise. Summary Scene ii:Enter Leontes, Hermione, Mamillius, Polixenes, Camillo, and Attendants. Polixenes proclaims his intent to return home. He has been staying as a guest in the court of Leontes for nine months, and he fears that troubles may start at home if he stays away much longer. Leontes tries, without any success, to convince Polixenes to stay a short while longer. At Leontes' request, Hermione, Leontes' queen, tries to convince Polixenes to stay. She is eloquent and persuasive, and Polixenes gives in. She then asks to hear more stories from the kings' boyhood days together. Polixenes paints a picture of innocence and pure friendship in days before the two men knew anything of women. Hermione is extremely affectionate to Polixenes, treating him with great love because he is her husband's best and oldest friend. In asides to the audience, Leontes reveals that he is insanely jealous of Polixenes and Hermione. He is convinced that they are secretly committing adultery, although he has no hard evidence on which to base his suspicions. In full view of the others, he asks his young son Mamillius questions loaded with double meanings about whether or not the child is his boy. When Hermione and Polixenes ask if Leontes is feeling well, he replies that he is only unsettled because Mamillius reminds him of himself in the days of his own childhood. Leontes asks if Polixenes' son back in Bohemia is as dear as Mamillius, and Polixenes speaks of the great love he has for his own boy. Hermione, Polixenes, and the Attendants exit, leaving Leontes to continue his strange, angry conversation with his uncomprehending son. Mamillius exits, and Leontes, in an aside, speaks of how the tryst between Polixenes and Hermione must be obvious to everyone. He questions Camillo, who is clearly unaware of the king's suspicions. The king, convinced that Camillo is either stupid or playing dumb, grows increasingly irate. When he finally tells Camillo of what he suspects, the advisor is horrified and does not believe it. Leontes' grows increasingly furious, and Camillo, seeing the king's conviction, seems to give in. At Leontes' expressed desire to see Polixenes dead of poison, he offers to carry out the task. His condition is that Leontes' keep the queen in her present status, and do nothing to stain her honor. The king agrees, and Camillo affirms again that he will poison Polixenes. The king leaves, and Camillo reveals to the audience that he is horrified by the task set before him. He is a loyal courtier, but he believes Polixenes and Hermione are innocent. He resolves not to do it. Polixenes enters, disturbed by his most recent brush with Leontes. He asks Camillo about the change in the king's manner, and Camillo initially refuses to give a straightforward answer. When Polixenes continues to entreat Camillo, worried that his safety might be at risk, Camillo tells him the truth. He agrees to help Polixenes, using his authority as Leontes' most trusted advisor to ensure a safe escape for Polixenes and all of his men. Camillo says that he will serve at Polixenes' court, since in helping Polixenes he can no longer stay in Sicilia. Polixenes' ship has been ready for departure for days, and Polixenes assures Camillo that he will remember this service. Analysis:Scene One establishes characters and situation. We learn that the kings of Sicilia and Bohemia have been good friends since childhood, and that Sicilia has a young prince who shows great promise. Although Archidamus is not particularly important as a character, Camillo is one of the play's most important characters. From his praise of his king and his prince, we see that he is a faithful and patriotic courtier, full of love for his position. He is an ideal advisor, happiest when he has a good ruler to serve. In Scene Two, Shakespeare gives us a deep psychological portrait of Leontes. Directors control the level of the flirtatiousness between Hermione and Polixenes in productions of The Winter's Tale, but an important part of the characterization of Leontes is that his fears are not grounded in any real impropriety. The less proof he has, the more crazed he becomes. Although people at court speak often of how much Mamillius resembles him, he persists in the delusion that the child's paternity is questionable. And when his most trusted advisor insists that Hermione is innocent, his rage shows unequivocally that he will not have his delusions questioned. He dwells obsessively on the idea of being a known cuckold, a man whose wife is an adulterer, although Camillo's responses indicate that no one at court views the king that way. A recurring theme in many of Shakespeare's plays is the conflict between marriage and friendship. In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare continues to play with this familiar theme, although in a more oblique manner. The boyhood days of Leontes are mentioned with some prominence in Scene Two, and the discussion of the old days becomes a counterpoint to his current jealous rage. Polixenes stresses their boyhood days as pre-sexual, days before they knew women and the duties of marriage. Hermione chides that she and Polixenes' wife must be devils, because they have lured the men out of these days of innocence. Her joke has serious undertones. The introduction of women into the lives of Polixenes and Leontes puts an end to the days without responsibility. In Scene Two, we watch Leontes return to the days without responsibility in two parallel ways: he remembers the days of his youth, and he puts aside responsibilities as a man, husband, father, and king in favor of jealousy and rage. Manhood brings power, but Leontes' masculinity is fragile; it is something that can be lost, and its integrity depends on keeping his wife faithful. For that, he only has her word. Once suspicion becomes paranoid delusion, Leontes' manhood is threatened. He imagines his oldest friend as a rival, a rival who seeks to be more of a man than Leontes by conquering Leontes' wife. Three closely connected themes come play themselves out in Scene Two. The responsibility of kings, the threat of tyranny, and the connection between the king as head of the family and the king as head of state (patriarchy, "rule of the father," in all senses of the word): these are important themes not only in The Winter's Tale, but in many of Shakespeare's plays. These three themes are often at work when a Shakespearean ruler transforms himself from good king to bad king, good father/husband to bad father/husband, good man to bad man. By indulging in his groundless paranoia, Leontes transforms himself from good king to bad king, and a large part of this change comes because of his failure to live up to his roles as husband and father. Marriage brings with it great duty, and as Shakespeare depicts it, a king's duties as husband and father are inseparable from his duties as head of state. In his indulgence in jealousy and paranoid fantasy, the king separates himself from his duties. The responsibility of kings is a common Shakespearean theme; one of those responsibilities is to produce an heir and raise that heir into adulthood. Having produced an heir, Leontes shirks his duty to be a good father. Leontes questions the paternity of Mamillius, and so absolves himself of the responsibility to provide for the boy's safety, happiness, and wellbeing. Leontes' outrageous behavior will eventually cost him the life of his heir Mamillius, as well as the loss of his second child, Perdita. When Leontes' looks into his son's face and claims that he sees himself in the days of his youth, he is explaining his strange behavior dishonestly, but the words of his response emphasize his longing to return to a world without duty. A tragic aspect of Leontes' fall is that he cannot regain the happiness of his boyhood by reenacting its irresponsibility. The consequences are not freedom, but tragedy. His delusions include a terrible betrayal of his boyhood friend. His obsession makes him unable to rule effectively as king. Part of kingship is the ability to benefit from the counsel of wise advisors like Camillo, and here we watch as Camillo's rational advice does little but drive Leontes further into his delusions. In ordering the assassination of Polixenes, Leontes orders an act that is barbaric and potentially harmful to his state. Poisoning Polixenes will not be without repercussions for his country; the connection between the state's health and the king's personal affairs becomes clear when Camillo tells Leontes that he must not sully Hermione's honor. Hermione must be kept as queen to protect Sicilia from scandal and loss of honor among her allies. Camillo's suggestion is not only about saving face; he is concerned for the security of his country. (Significantly, Leontes will later ignore this advice and try Hermione publicly, showing further that his jealousy and failure to be a good husband compromises his ability to be a good king.) The death of Polixenes while he is a guest in Sicilia would have massive repercussions for Leontes' kingdom; his act is not only a violation of friendship, but of his important duties to his people. Camillo, the faithful advisor, is a man of conscience. He has a powerful sense of duty; his training and talents are geared towards aiding a king to rule effectively, but he does not allow his loyalty to override his sense of right and wrong. The conflict between duty and conscience is an important theme in The Winter's Tale, and Camillo's resolves to serve his sense of right and wrong before any king. Camillo's decision ultimately makes the play's happy ending possible. His choice is the first in a series of events that protects The Winter's Tale from the momentum towards tragedy set up by Leontes' jealousy.
Summary and Analysis of Act 2
Summary Scene i:Hermione sits with her ladies-in-waiting and Mamillius. The child is mischievous and charming, delighting his mother and her ladies with irreverent humor. Leontes enters with Antigonus and various unnamed lords. They are telling him about the flight of Camillo and Polixenes, and their news makes Leontes feel certain that his suspicions were correct. He now believes that Camillo was a double agent working for Polixenes. He has Mamillius taken from Hermione, and he cruelly insults Hermione in full view of the lords and Hermione's ladies. He says that she has committed adultery, and Hermione bears his insults with dignity. When he tells her that she is to be put in prison, she insists that her ladies accompany her because she is pregnant and needs their help. The lords weep as she is escorted out, and she tells them that they would have reason to weep if she were guilty; for the innocent, suffering leads to grace. She brings her women with her as she goes to her prison. Antigonus tries without success to make Leontes reconsider his suspicions. He professes absolute faith in the queen's virtue, but Leontes remains unconvinced. From Leontes' point of view, the truth of the matter is apparent, and he seeks no counsel from his men in determining whether or not his suspicions are correct; he has been all the more convinced by Camillo's flight. The king announces that he has sent messengers to Apollo's oracle at Delphos to ask about the queen's fidelity. Although he has no doubt as to what the answer will be, the oracle will at least put the minds of his subjects at ease. Summary Scene ii:Paulina, courtier and wife of Antigonus, tries to see the queen in her cell, but the guard will not let her pass. Instead, the jailer will allow Emilia, one of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting, to come out and speak for the queen. Emilia reveals that Hermione has had her baby, a healthy daughter. Paulina resolves to take the baby to the king, in hopes that the sight of his daughter will restore his senses to him. The jailer has anxieties about releasing the child, but Paulina convinces him that the baby should not be in prison. She also assures him that she will protect him from harm. Summary Scene iii:Leontes, alone, speaks of burning the queen to put his mind at rest. A servant enters, and from their conversation we learn that Prince Mamillius has been sick since his mother's imprisonment. Leontes tells the servant to tend to the boy. He then bemoans the fact that he cannot harm Polixenes, whose kingdom and allies put him beyond Leontes' reach. Since he cannot harm Camillo and Polixenes, he will satisfy himself by dealing with Hermione. Paulina enters, along with Antigonus, servants, and lords. She fearlessly confronts the king, defending the queen's innocence and condemning the king's tyrannical behavior. She refuses to do anything but praise the queen's character. The king mocks Antigonus for being unable to control his wife, but Paulina brushes these comments aside. She tries to convince the king that the infant is his by pointing out the strong physical resemblance between the monarch and the child, but the king remains unmoved. He keeps telling Antigonus to control his wife better, but Antigonus does not bother trying. Paulina leaves the child, hoping that Leontes will soften and come to his senses. The king orders Antigonus to destroy the child. Leontes accuses Antigonus of instructing his wife to behave as she has, which Antigonus denies, with the lords backing his word. The king refuses to believe them. He asks Antigonus what he would be willing to sacrifice to save the child's life, and Antigonus replies that he would give anything. Leontes asks him to swear to do his bidding, in order to save the life of the child, and Antigonus swears. The king orders Antigonus to take the child and leave it in a wild and remote place, to be saved or killed according to the dictates of chance. If Antigonus does not do so, he and Paulina will both be executed. Antigonus is compelled to obey because he has given his word, but he is loath to carry out the king's orders. He goes to it miserably. A servant enters with the news that Dion and Cleomenes have arrived back from the oracle. Leontes announces his attention to have the queen put on trial. Analysis:Act 2 opens with the idyllic scene of the prince playing with his mother and the ladies-in-waiting. The charm and happiness of the moment makes the contrast with the jealousy of Leontes all the more jarring. Shakespeare is giving us a glimpse of the normal pattern of their family life, which invites greater sympathy for the queen and prince and gives us a sense of what Leontes is destroying. Leontes' delusions isolate him from his family and his court. He removes his wife and son from his company, and he continues to believe fervently in Hermione's infidelity even though everyone at court thinks the idea is ludicrous. He is completely alone in his suspicions, insisting on them most violently when someone at court tries to contradict him. These scenes reveal a king who is withdrawing further and further into his own paranoid fantasies. He interprets Camillo's flight with Polixenes as conclusive proof of his suspicions, ignoring the fact that if Camillo, Hermione, and Polixenes were innocent Camillo would do exactly the same thing. The theme of tyranny is present throughout Act 2, as Leontes' throne protects him from the need for rationality, compassion, and listening to counsel. Paulina is one of Shakespeare's most fearless heroines, defiantly scolding the king and defending her queen. Scene Two shows us that she commands a great deal of respect in Sicilia: Emilia is relieved when she learns that Paulina will plea for Hermione to Leontes, and the jailer defers to Paulina's authority and believes her when she promises to protect him. Directors have a great deal of influence over how Act 2, Scene Three is played. In some productions, Leontes does not take Paulina seriously, and bears her mostly by ignoring her. She is able to get away with scolding him because he does not view her as an equal; this interpretation is consistent with the manner in which he tries to silence her. Notice that Leontes addresses Antigonus, Paulina's husband, rather than her. He criticizes Antigonus for being unable to control his wife, and the scene can be played to make Paulina almost comic. On the other hand, the scene can be played to make Paulina incredibly threatening. Played this way, Leontes addresses her husband because he has no idea how to deal with a strong woman. Both the comic and threatening interpretations of Paulina's character are grounded in her gender. The fact that she is a woman can mean either that she is taken less seriously by the lords or that the men are disabled by her strength. From the characters' discussion of the oracle, we know that we are meant to assume that the oracle will speak the truth. Interestingly enough, this viewpoint was totally against the religious teachings of Shakespeare's England. Many theological writings of the time had determined that there was no divine inspiration for the oracles of the ancients, but Shakespeare asks us to take the oracle's word as truth. Throughout The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of the fantastic, in part by creating a world in which the mythology of the ancient Greeks is accepted without rational skepticism or Christian prejudice. Significantly, the idea of a dependable oracle also grounds Truth in the play, giving characters a reliable source of judgments and a sure knowledge of divine will. The fantastic qualities of the play and the accessibility of the truth help to disarm the tragedy that Leontes' jealousy might provoke in another Shakespearean drama.
Summary and Analysis of Act 3
Summary Scene i:Cleomenes and Dion, the courtiers dispatched by Leontes to the oracle at Delphi, speak with wonder about the ceremony they witnessed at the shrine. They hope that the oracle's judgment will help Queen Hermione. Summary Scene ii:The trial of Hermione. With dignity and restraint, Hermione defends her chastity and condemns the injustice that has been done to her. Leontes remains as stubborn and angry as ever, attacking and threatening Hermione while she counters him eloquently. An officer breaks the seal on the message from the oracle and reads: Hermione, Polixenes, and Camillo are innocent and Leontes is a jealous tyrant. The oracle also predicts that Leontes will be without an heir unless the lost daughter is found. The court is delighted, but Leontes denounces the words of the oracle as false. But then a servant enters, bringing terrible news: Prince Mamillius is dead, killed by anxiety about his mother's fate. Leontes believes that the gods have killed the child as punishment to the king, and finally he realizes that he has been in error. Hermione swoons, and is helped out of the room by Paulina and several officers. Leontes is now fully penitent, asking the gods' forgiveness and promising to make amends. Paulina reenters and lashes out at the king, condemning his tyranny and jealousy. Hermione is dead. Paulina continues to rebuke the king harshly, but when she sees his grief and penitence she regrets her roughness. Leontes says that he will have queen and prince buried in the same grave, and he will grieve for the rest of his days. Summary Scene iii:Antigonus, carrying the baby, enters with a mariner. They have set down on the shores of Bohemia, and the sailor is nervous because the sky is threatening. He fears the gods are angry with them because of what they are doing, and he warns Antigonus not to wander too far or too long, because this land is famous for its wild beasts. After the sailor exits, Antigonus tells the baby that he saw Hermione's spirit last night in a dream. The ghost wept and then told him that the child's name is Perdita, because she is lost. Hermione's ghost also informed Antigonus that because of his hand in the child's abandonment, Antigonus will never see his wife again. Antigonus believes that the dream is a sign of Hermione's death. He has either come to believe or forced himself to believe Leontes' suspicions, and so he is abandoning the child in the wilds of Bohemia, the land of her supposed father. He leaves the child with a bundle and a box. He regrets his task, but he feels bound by his oath. Then he suddenly exits, pursued by a bear. A Shepherd wanders onstage, complaining about young people and looking for two lost sheep; instead of finding them, he stumbles onto Perdita. He believes she must be the unwanted illegitimate offspring of two servants, and he resolves to take care of her. His son enters, having just witnessed two fantastic scenes. On the sea, a ship was swallowed up by the waves, and on land, a bear killed and began to devour a nobleman. The Shepherd's Son has no idea who these victims were, although the audience knows immediately that he is talking about Antigonus and the ship that carried him from Sicilia. The Shepherd feels pity for the dead, but he also has great hope for the child that he has found: "Thou met'st with things dying, I with things newborn" (3.3.119-20). The Shepherd and his son find that the box left with the baby is full of gold, and he now believes that the child is a changeling, a child left by fairies. The Shepherd's Son announces his intent to return to the scene of the bear attack so he can bury whatever is left of the nobleman's body. Analysis:We see in the exchange between Cleomenes and Dion that the people of Sicilia have a great deal of respect and love for Queen Hermione. When put on trial, she is an exemplar of a specific kind of strength. Although the setting is pagan, her forbearance and resolve follow Christian models of virtue, particularly passive and feminine virtue. She wishes that her father, the emperor of Russia, might see her, but to provide comfort rather than a means to revenge. Her suffering is almost completely passive; she trusts to the gods to provide testimony on her behalf, and chooses to nobly endure suffering rather than try to escape or more actively oppose the king. At the end of the play, when she is miraculously restored, she takes him back without question. One of The Winter's Tale's important themes is the drive to preserve and restore order, with that order being embodied in patriarchy, the king, and the royal family. Ironically, women like Hermione and Paulina are often the key preservers of this patriarchal order. Hermione's virtue comes in part through her sense of her place; although she criticizes Leontes' treatment of her, she is ultimately obedient to her husband. When on trial, she points out that the love she showed Polixenes was consistent with what Leontes himself commanded, and this obedience to her husband's will is part of why people praise her. Although Leontes behaves like a tyrant, no character tries to remove the king from his throne. The action of the play is to repair the damage caused by Leontes' jealousy, but note what characters are not willing to do: Camillo flees, Hermione endures, and Paulina, though she criticizes the king, will eventually restore his wife to him. Unlike tragedy, where a man of high position falls because of excesses or flaws in his character, here that momentum is totally disarmed. A happy ending is possible because so many characters, though critical of Leontes' tyranny, are ultimately loyal to him and work tirelessly to restore to him what he himself has destroyed. When obedience to Leontes becomes impossible because of the dictates of conscience, loyalty to his office and position remains. Paulina confronts him fearlessly, but even she tells the lord who bars her way that she comes to bring Leontes comfort and sleep. And once she sees that Leontes is remorseful, she forgives him even though he has caused the death of Hermione and Mamillius, and eventually causes the death of Paulina's husband. Camillo, who of all the king's beloved most directly disobeys him, must immediately replace his old master with a new one. Camillo is incomplete without a monarch to serve. And even Camillo, in the end, will long to return to Sicilia and the king that he could not obey with a clear conscience. The king's recognition of his error and his subsequent remorse come about as suddenly as did his jealousy. Though we are meant to take the word of the oracle as truth, Leontes initially does not. The much-awaited word of the oracle is quickly brushed aside, and it is the death of his son moments later that suddenly convinces Leontes that he has been wrong. The king believes that he is being punished by Apollo. But why should he interpret the boy's death this way, when moments earlier he was convinced that he was not Mamillius' true father? It is possible to argue that Mamillius' death convinces him of the oracle's accuracy because it fulfills the prediction that Leontes would go without an heir until the retrieval of his daughter. And yet that explanation seems unconvincing, because Leontes' remorse comes so quickly after he hears the news of Mamillius' death; there seems to be no time to realize that the oracle's prophecy is being fulfilled. Leontes himself certainly never explains his reversal this way. He comes around because he interprets the boy's death as retribution from the gods, even though other explanations seem more plausible. Shakespeare's portrayal of Leontes' remorse is not about a triumph of reason. Instead, the king's reversal is a canny and penetrating depiction of the power of guilt, which, in this case, is strong enough to break down Leontes' delusions. Although until now he has persevered in his fantasies with the single-mindedness of a madman, there are signs earlier in the play that some part of him recognizes the truth. In Act 2, Scene Three, he hears the news about Mamillius' illness with some degree of concern, and he instructs the servant to make sure that the child is given proper care. Is this compassion normal for Leontes? In that same scene, he orders his infant daughter to death by exposure to the elements and thinks happily of setting fire to his wife: clearly, he is not feeling any strong need to treat anyone with compassion or mercy. Yet some concern remains for his boy. In Act 3, his sudden remorse betrays some knowledge Leontes must have of his wife's faithfulness. He can only interpret Mamillius' death as punishment if he believes that the child is his. Mamillius' sudden death from sickness, caused by the boy's anxiety, which in turn was caused by the king's treatment of Hermione, finally sticks to Leontes' conscience. Sorrow and then guilt set in, accomplishing what the words of the oracle could not. Leontes has deliberately persevered in his delusions, isolating himself from love of his wife and son, from compassion, and from his court. Guilt returns him to them. A close look at Antigonus and Camillo illuminates the important theme of conflict between loyalty and conscience. Shakespeare sets up strong parallels between Camillo and Antigonus, making each man an alternate version of the other (Hu 1). The difference is that Camillo follows his conscience. Although he has told his king that he will commit murder, instead he chooses to help the intended victim to escape. Antigonus, on the other hand, sticks to his oath and leaves an infant to what seems to be a certain death. The gods do not validate his choice: although the ghost of Hermione seems to recognize that Antigonus acts under extreme pressure (remember that he obeys the king to protect his own life and the life of his wife, Paulina), the gods still punish him for his role in Perdita's abandonment. Self-deception has been necessary for him to be able to do what he knows is wrong: although he previously defended Hermione's virtue, in Scene Three he seems to have accepted that Perdita is a bastard. To ease his conscience, he has convinced himself that Leontes' absurd suspicions are the truth. Shakespeare calls attention to Antigonus' failure through the character's name. It is a male form of "Antigone," the great heroine of Sophocles' drama who defies the king and dies for her beliefs (Hu 5). Although Sophocles' play was not performed for the English audiences of Shakespeare's time, the story was known, and Antigonus' ignoble and comic death becomes all the more embarrassing in light of Antigone's glorious martyrdom. His comic death at the hands of an angry bear is a rich moment. Many critics have pointed to his death as the play's moment of transformation from tragedy to comedy and romance. The Shepherd calls attention to Scene Three as a time of contrasts and cycles. His son finds death, but the Shepherd finds life; the rest of the play will move towards repairing the damage that Leontes has caused. Bears hibernate during the winter and then emerge during spring, acting out the death and rebirth alluded to by the shepherd. The fact that Perdita is found by shepherds also has obvious Christian connotations. Like the good shepherd of Christ's parables, the Shepherd is looking for his lost sheep. He finds the infant instead, and immediately the old man feels compassion for the child. Shakespeare synthesizes Christian and pagan worldviews to create a new myth of death and rebirth in The Winter's Tale, and miraculous death and rebirth is one of the play's most important themes. The next act is set in the countryside during a time of feasting, and the pastoral setting is a welcome change from the oppressive atmosphere of the tyrant-ruled Sicilian court.
Summary and Analysis of Act 4
Summary Scene i:Father Time, the chorus of this play, tells the audience that sixteen years have passed since the end of Act 3. We leave behind Leontes, grieving in Sicilia, and come to Bohemia. Perdita, now a young woman, grows in grace and beauty. Father Time asks us also to remember that Polixenes has a son, Florizell, who is now a young man. Summary Scene ii:Camillo is asking Polixenes to allow him to return home. Leontes has asked Camillo to come back, and Camillo longs to see his homeland and his old master. Polixenes has come to depend on Camillo's administrative abilities, and urges the courtier to stay. Their conversation implies that Bohemia and Sicilia enjoy restored relations, although the friendship between the kings has never recovered. Polixenes asks if Camillo knows the whereabouts of Prince Florizell, who lately is often absent. The king has heard that Florizell often visits the house of a shepherd who has a beautiful daughter. He asks Camillo to go with him, disguised, in order to find out what Florizell has been doing. Summary Scene iii:Autolycus, a young man formerly in the service of the prince, now makes his living as a con artist. He pretends that he has been wounded by highway robbers. The unsuspecting Shepherd's Son, out buying supplies and ingredients for the sheep-shearing feast, stops to help him. While the Shepherd's Son is distracted, the rogue swipes the dim man's purse. When Autolycus hears about the sheep-shearing festival, he sees an opportunity to strike again. Summary Scene iv:Florizell and Perdita speak to each other lovingly at the Shepherd's house. She wears a nice dress for the festival, while the prince is disguised as a young peasant. We learn that they first met because his hunting falcon flew out over the grounds of Perdita's home. Florizell is aglow with love for Perdita, but she is nervous about the prince's rank. She fears that if his father finds out, it will be a disaster for her and her family. We learn that although the two youths are in love, they have not consummated the affair. Florizell tells Perdita that he will risk being disowned for her. Enter the Shepherd, the Shepherd's Son, Mopsa, Dorcas, shepherds and shepherdesses, servants, musicians, and Polixenes and Camillo in disguise. The Shepherd encourages his daughter to devote herself wholeheartedly to the role of hostess, describing how his deceased wife was a hostess worth emulating. Perdita obeys her father and is charming and gracious to the guests. Polixenes and Camillo are impressed by the girl's beauty and bearing. Polixenes talks to the Shepherd, asking the identity of the young man with Perdita. The Shepherd does not know Florizell's true identity; he believes that Florizell is a country youth named Doricles. He tells the disguised king that the boy and Perdita are in love, and the Shepherd approves of the match. A servant announces the approach of a ballad-singer selling ribbons and other trinkets, and the Shepherd's Son eagerly calls for him to be brought in. Perdita warns that the ballad singer must not use obscene words. In comes the singer, who is none other than Autolycus. He sings a song about the wares he sells. We learn that the Shepherd's Son and the girl Mopsa are a pair, although Dorcas often playfully flirts with him. The three sing a ballad with Autolycus, and they all exit, with the Shepherd's Son promising to buy trifles for both women. A servant announces the approach of rustics who have dressed themselves as satyrs. The Shepherd, worried that he is boring his guests with too much "homely foolery," is about to send the satyrs away, but Polixenes is delighted by the prospect of dancing satyrs and insists that they be brought in. After the dance, Polixenes chats with Florizell, who has not recognized him. Florizell eloquently proclaims his love of Perdita, and Perdita indicates that she feels the same way. The Shepherd approves the match. The disguised Polixenes asks Florizell if he has a father, and if his father knows of this match. Florizell admits that his father knows nothing, nor will he know. Polixenes presses him to tell his father, and the Shepherd agrees that Florizell's father should know. When Florizell still refuses to share the important news with his father, Polixenes reveals himself. Furious, he disowns his son and threatens the Shepherd and Perdita. The Shepherd will escape harm this time, but if Perdita sees Florizell again she will be executed. Polixenes exits. Perdita was about to tell him that the same sun shines on the court and on her cottage, but now the chance is past and her concern is for the safety of her and her family. She asks Florizell to leave. The Shepherd is angry with both children for their deception, and he exits in a huff. Florizell is undeterred by his father's disapproval. He still wants to marry Perdita. Camillo, now revealed, tries to caution the prince about rash behavior, but the prince has made his choice. He will marry Perdita and, if necessary, flee Bohemia. In an aside, Camillo wonders if he can help the prince to escape as well as use the event to his advantage, so that he can once again see Sicilia and his old master, King Leontes. Camillo has a plan. Florizell and Perdita should go to Sicilia, where King Leontes will welcome them. In their absence, Camillo will try to convince Polixenes to accept his son's decision. Florizell and Perdita will pretend to be emissaries of Polixenes, with letters and instructions from Camillo to make the act believable. Autolycus re-enters, having sold all of his junk. Camillo pays him to switch clothes with Florizell, so that the prince can escape in disguise. The hat is given to Perdita. In an aside, Camillo reveals that he will tell the king where the children have gone, in hopes that the king will follow them to Sicilia. Camillo will accompany him, and the old courtier will be able to see his homeland once again. Perdita, Camillo, and Florizell exit. Autolycus knows Camillo and the prince, but he decides not to tell the king, because the act of honesty would not suit his knavish character. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son re-enter, discussing their plight. The Shepherd's Son convinces the Shepherd that they must tell Polixenes that Perdita is a changeling. Autolycus approaches them, pretending to be a great courtier. He warns the men that the king is furious, and fools them into believing that the king plans brutal tortures for all those involved in Florizell's courtship of Perdita. He tells them that if needs be, he will present them to the king and put in a good word for them. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son are duped, and they give Autolycus gold to thank him for his help. Autolycus reveals in an aside to the audience that he will work to benefit his old master, the prince, in hopes that he may achieve some advancement. While helping the prince, there is no hurt in conning the peasants out of a little more gold. Analysis:The shift in tone and focus between Act 2 and Act 3 is one of the most dramatic transitions in Shakespeare. Suddenly, the tragic momentum set up by Leontes' irrational jealousy and tyrannical behavior is left behind; at the request of the chorus, Father Time, we leave the world of Sicilia and enter the pastoral world of Bohemia's countryside. The focus here is the love story of Perdita and Florizell, set in an idyllic landscape of shepherds, rogues, and peasants dressed as forest satyrs. The court of Bohemia never enters our consideration; when we do see courtiers and royalty, they are foundlings unaware of their true identity or they are in disguise. Nature and its regenerative powers dominate the stage. When we first see Florizell and Perdita, he compares her to a goddess of nature, and later, men dressed as mythical satyrs dance for our entertainment. Shakespeare is creating a charming rural world full of allusions to the nature deities of ancient Greece. Depictions of the pastoral have a long tradition in English literature. A pastoral is an idealized literary portrait of life in the country, often involving shepherds and shepherdesses who are surprisingly literate and given to speaking in verse. To many of the Londoners who saw Shakespeare's plays, the pastoral was a form of escapism to a life that was removed from the hubbub of the city. Literate aristocrats, fond throughout the ages of romanticizing poverty that they do not share, enjoyed the fantasy images of sheep tending, quaint festivals, and poetry-spouting peasants. These pastorals depicted a world that was supposedly more simple and beautiful than the lives of the urban or the rich. Here, the pastoral setting contributes to the important theme of death and rebirth. Leontes has caused the deaths of his wife and son and the apparent death of his daughter. Yet Perdita has miraculously survived, and her restoration to her father will seem, to the grieving court of Sicilia, like a miraculous resurrection. The idealized world of Bohemia's countryside is the site of nature's cycles, which parallel the loss and death of the first three acts followed by the renewal and restoration in Acts Four and Five. The dangers of tyranny are present in Act 4, but this time Polixenes is the man at fault. His anger with his son is understandable, but it is also excessive. When he threatens Perdita with physical violence, it is the act of a man whose throne will protect him even if he terrorizes his subjects. Tyranny separates a king from his people; remember Leontes' delusions and his tyrannical behavior, which isolated him farther and farther from his court and family. The Winter's Tale warns against this kind of isolation: good kingship means guarding against it. Perdita's intended words of advice to the king are to the point: "I was not much afeard, for once or twice / I was about to speak and tell him plainly / The selfsame sun that shines upon his court / Hides not his visage from our cottage but / Looks on all alike" (4.4.520-4). Monarchs should be responsible, like everyone else, for the proper treatment of friends and family; kings are linked even to their poorest subjects by a common humanity. Throughout Shakespeare's plays, a king forgets these truths at his peril. Yet in this play, Shakespeare goes easy on Leontes and Polixenes. They are allowed, despite their misuses of their power, to have a happy ending. Fate is generous and forgiving. Polixenes never even has to apologize for his rough treatment of Perdita and her adoptive family, nor does he have to learn the lesson that Perdita was about to share with him. His problem with his son's marriage takes care of itself when Perdita's true parentage is revealed. Although both kings at different points misuse their power, the play does not leave them isolated. Leontes and Polixenes learn their lessons or half-learn them; either way, fate accommodates them and restores their relationships with friends and family.
Summary and Analysis of Act 5
Summary Scene i:The courtiers comfort Leontes, who has never forgiven himself for the deaths of Mamillius and Hermione. Paulina's words to the king include a dose of harsh honesty. Though the other courtiers want him to remarry, Paulina urges him not to do it. She reminds him of Apollo's prophecy, which proclaimed that Leontes would have no heir unless the lost daughter were found. To remarry for the purposes of producing an heir would therefore be futile. She persuades him never to remarry again unless Paulina chooses the bride. Leontes agrees, and Paulina says that if she is to have her way, he will never marry until his queen draws breath again. A servant announces the arrival of Florizell and his wife. Because the visit is sudden and unexpected, Leontes suspects that Florizell comes because of some accident or disaster. The servant praises Florizell's wife, whom he has assumed is a princess. When he says that the princess is peerless among women past and present, Paulina takes exception to the compliment, because she will not have her old queen, Hermione, ranked second to anyone. The servant apologizes but promises that Paulina, too, will be awed by the girl. Florizell and Perdita enter, and Leontes greets them with great emotion and warmth. Florizell pretends that Perdita is a princess of Libya, and that they are newly married. But a servant interrupts them, bringing news that Polixenes is in Sicilia. He has come for his son, who fled Bohemia with a shepherd's daughter. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son are with him. Florizell correctly infers that Camillo has betrayed him. To Perdita's great alarm, the servant reports that Shepherd and Shepherd's Son were begging the king for mercy, who ignored their pleas and threatened them with great harm. Leontes is not angry about the deception, and he speaks comforting words to the prince. Florizell asks Leontes to speak on behalf of the young couple, and the king promises that he will try to help them. Summary Scene ii:The truth about Perdita's parentage has been revealed. We never see the event happen onstage; instead, we hear about it in a conversation between three gentleman and Autolycus. When the Shepherd produced the items that he found with the infant Perdita, which included garments and jewels that belonged to Hermione and letters written by Antigonus, all those present realized the truth. The two royal families and their attendant advisors and friends were overcome by joy and sorrow. Paulina rejoiced to see the oracle fulfilled, but she mourned for the loss of her husband. Leontes was overwhelmed by the miraculous return of his daughter, but it reminded him afresh of Hermione's death. The whole scene, one gentleman promised, would have moved anyone who witnessed it. Leontes, Polixenes, Florizell, Perdita, Camillo, Paulina, and various lords have all gone to Paulina's house. There, a statue of Hermione is nearing completion. They go there to view the statue and sup together. Alone with the audience, Autolycus says that earlier on the prince's ship he tried to tell Florizell that Perdita was a foundling, but Perdita and Florizell were too busy with seasickness to listen to him. His chances for advancement seem slim, but he takes it all in stride. The Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son enter, now decked out in fine clothes. They are overjoyed at their new good fortune, proclaiming themselves to be gentlemen; kings and courtiers have thanked them and called them brother for taking care of Perdita. Autolycus asks forgiveness for the tricks he played on them, and he also requests that they put in a good word for him with Florizell. The Shepherd's Son promises to be his advocate. Summary Scene iii:In Paulina's house, Paulina draws back the curtain to reveal the statue of Hermione. The statue is remarkably lifelike, and it is made to look like an older Hermione, as if the queen had lived and aged these past sixteen years. The likeness of Hermione stirs up deep emotions for Perdita, who has never known a mother. Leontes is moved to great sorrow by the statue, and Paulina offers repeatedly to draw the curtain so as to spare him pain. Paulina then offers to make the statue move, although she fears to do so if any consider this magic unnatural. At the king's urging, Paulina wakes the statue, miraculously restoring Hermione to life. All are amazed. Hermione takes her king by the hand. Paulina presents Perdita to Hermione, and the queen lovingly asks her daughter to tell her everything that has happened while the queen has been gone. Paulina encourages them to go together and enjoy the reunification of their family, while she stays behind to mourn the loss of Antigonus. Leontes tells her to leave her sorrow behind. He wants her to fulfill her vow to take a husband of the king's choosing, just as he agreed to remarry the wife she chose for him. (Although we have heard earlier of Leontes' vow to Paulina to take a wife of her choosing, this is the first time we have heard of her making a similar vow to him.) Leontes chooses Camillo, a perfect match for Paulina. For all the wrongs he committed against Polixenes and Hermione, Leontes begs forgiveness. With Paulina leading the way, the characters exit. Finally, reunited family and friends will share what has happened to them since their separation sixteen years ago. Analysis:We return in the final act to the grieving court of Sicilia, still sorrowful for the queen's death and anxious about the stability of their kingdom, which remains without an heir. Act 5 restores stability and solves the problems of both kings without any revolution. The queen and daughter Leontes lost return to him miraculously. For Polixenes, the commoner his son wanted to marry has turned out to be a princess, and no less, she is the daughter of his oldest friend. The happy ending is fantastic, so full of magic and unlikely coincidences that characters constantly remark that if the events they have witnessed were retold as a story, no one would believe it. A "winter's tale" is a long story to be told by a warm fire, often one full of fantasy and clever invention. But the audience is not being told a story: we are allowed, along with the characters, to witness the wondrous events of the play. The most fantastic event of the show, Hermione's miraculous resurrection, is also one of the most powerful. Shakespeare's audience might have had some anxiety about the magical resurrection of the dead, but Leontes remarks that the effects of Paulina's magic are so wondrous that her craft must be embraced as natural and good. The pagan and pastoral elements of the play also help to deflect the charge of witchcraft. Act 4 immersed the audience in a healing and restorative world of nature and romance. The Greek and Christian stories of regeneration and resurrection have prepared us for this ending, as has the pagan myth of Pygmalion, in which a sculptor's creation comes to life through the aid of the gods. Lines in Act 5 foreshadow the resurrection. When Paulina tells the king that he will never marry until his wife draws breath again, the talk of Hermione's resurrection is a prediction rather than a rhetorical device. And when the gentlemen discuss the revealing of Perdita's parentage, one of them remarks that even those "most marble there changed color" (5.2.96-7). The phrase means that even the most hard-hearted were moved, but the gentleman is also unwittingly foreshadowing the restoration of the one who is literally "most marble," the statue of Hermione. She changes color when the blush of life enters her cheeks again. In moving towards the happy ending, more than magic is required. Paulina and Hermione join the ranks of other Shakespearean women who work to preserve or restore the status quo. The two women represent vastly different kinds of feminine virtue. Hermione is the passive, obedient wife, who without question takes back the husband who caused the death of herself and her son. Paulina is the sharp-tongued, fearless, and shrewish woman who never shirks from scolding any wrongdoer, even if he happens to be the king. But Paulina, too, is ultimately loyal to Leontes and his throne. Her magic restores his wife to him, and she obeys him when he asks her to marry Camillo. Paulina is strong-willed and admirable, and her counsel is especially needed after the departure of the wise and competent Camillo, but she is no revolutionary. All of the characters of the play remain deeply loyal to the two kings. Camillo obeys his conscience, but once Leontes repents, Camillo longs to see his old master again. Shakespeare presents us with admirable heroes who speak their minds, like Paulina, or obey their consciences, like Camillo; and yet these heroes must work within the system of patriarchy and monarchy. Both heroes are distinguished by their loyalty. Kings err, but for the happy ending to be possible they must be forgiven. The play's joyous ending makes a strong statement about social bonds and monarchy; its vision of what it means to be a good king and a good subject (and also, a good husband, wife, daughter, son, father, and friend) is both optimistic and conservative. The family of Leontes provides a model for a wide array of other social structures and hierarchies, including the families of subjects and the larger family of the nation. Preservation or restoration of these structures, including restoring and protecting patriarchs who abuse their power, is the central struggle of this play. The prophecy of the oracle gives us a sense that the hand of providence is at work. In delivering a message about truth and God, Apollo's prediction functions as Teiresias the seer functions in the plays of Sophocles: yes, there is a divine plan, and yes, sometimes parts of it are accessible to man. There is truth, something to aspire to, and there is meaning and order. Finally, the prophecy of Apollo has been fulfilled, and Perdita has returned home to be reunified with her father and mother. The play ends with restored order and great happiness. For modern audiences who have grown up under democracy and who also might view the idea of providence with great skepticism, The Winter's Tale can be a strange and even unsettling play. But its faith in existing social structures and the benign hand of the divine also make this play one of Shakespeare's most hopeful and uplifting works. In the reunification of Leontes' family and the new marriage of Perdita, The Winter's Tale leaves us with an optimistic vision of order and renewal.
ClassicNote on The Winter's Tale
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