The Winter's Tale

by William Shakespeare

  Shall we thither and with our company piece97 the rejoicing?

  FIRST GENTLEMAN Who would be thence98 that has the benefit of

  access? Every wink of an eye some new grace99 will be born.

  Our absence makes us unthrifty100 to our knowledge. Let's

  along.

  Exeunt [Gentlemen]

  AUTOLYCUS Now, had I not the dash102 of my former life in me,

  would preferment103 drop on my head. I brought the old man

  and his son aboard the104 prince; told him I heard them talk

  of a fardel and I know not what. But he at that time,

  overfond of the shepherd's daughter, so he then took her to

  be, who began to be much sea-sick, and himself little better,

  extremity of weather continuing, this mystery remained

  undiscovered. But 'tis all one to me, for had I been the finder

  out of this secret, it would not have relished110 among my other

  discredits111.

  Enter Shepherd and Clown

  Here come those I have done good to against my will, and

  already appearing in the blossoms113 of their fortune.

  SHEPHERD Come, boy. I am past more children, but thy sons

  and daughters will be all gentlemen born.

  CLOWN You are well met, sir. You denied to fight with me

  this117 other day, because I was no gentleman born. See you

  these clothes? Say you see them not and think me still no

  gentleman born. You were best say these robes are not

  gentlemen born. Give me the lie120, do, and try whether I am

  not now a gentleman born.

  AUTOLYCUS I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.

  CLOWN Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.

  SHEPHERD And so have I, boy.

  CLOWN So you have, but I was a gentleman born before my

  father, for the king's son took me by the hand, and called me

  brother, and then the two kings called my father brother, and

  then the prince my brother and the princess my sister called

  my father father; and so we wept, and there was the first

  gentleman-like tears that ever we shed.

  SHEPHERD We may live, son, to shed many more.

  CLOWN Ay, or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous132

  estate as we are.

  AUTOLYCUS I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the

  faults I have committed to your worship and to give me your

  good report135 to the prince my master.

  SHEPHERD Prithee, son, do, for we must be gentle137, now we are

  gentlemen.

  CLOWN Thou wilt amend thy life?

  AUTOLYCUS Ay, an it like your good worship.

  CLOWN Give me thy hand. I will swear to the prince thou art

  as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.

  SHEPHERD You may say it, but not swear it.

  CLOWN Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors144 and

  franklins145 say it, I'll swear it.

  SHEPHERD How if it be false, son?

  CLOWN If it be ne'er so false147, a true gentleman may swear it

  in148 the behalf of his friend, and I'll swear to the prince thou

  art a tall fellow of thy hands149 and that thou wilt not be drunk.

  But I know thou art no tall fellow of thy hands and that thou

  wilt be drunk. But I'll swear it, and I would151 thou wouldst be

  a tall fellow of thy hands.

  AUTOLYCUS I will prove so, sir, to my power153.

  CLOWN Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow. If I do not

  wonder how thou dar'st venture to be drunk, not being a tall

  fellow, trust me not. Hark, the kings and the princes, our

  kindred, are going to see the queen's picture157. Come, follow

  us. We'll be thy good masters.

  Exeunt

  Act 5 Scene 3 running scene 14

  * * *

  Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita, Camillo, Paulina, Lords and Attendants

  LEONTES O grave1 and good Paulina, the great comfort

  That I have had of thee!

  PAULINA What3, sovereign sir,

  I did not well I meant well. All my services

  You have paid home5. But that you have vouchsafed,

  With your crowned brother and these your contracted6

  Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,

  It is a surplus of your grace, which never

  My life may last to answer8.

  LEONTES O Paulina,

  We honour you with trouble11. But we came

  To see the statue of our queen. Your gallery12

  Have we passed through, not without much content13

  In many singularities14, but we saw not

  That which my daughter came to look upon,

  The statue of her mother.

  Paulina draws a curtain and reveals

  PAULINA As she lived peerless,

  So her dead likeness, I do well believe,

  Excels whatever yet you looked upon

  Or hand of man hath done: therefore I keep it

  Lonely21, apart. But here it is. Prepare

  To see the life as lively mocked22 as ever

  Still23 sleep mocked death. Behold, and say

  'tis well.

  I like your silence, it the more shows off

  Your wonder. But yet speak. First, you,

  my liege,

  Comes it not something near26?

  Hermione standing like a statue

  LEONTES Her natural posture!

  Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeed

  Thou art Hermione; or rather, thou art she

  In thy not chiding, for she was as tender

  As infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,

  Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothing

  So aged as this seems.

  POLIXENES O, not by much.

  PAULINA So much the more our carver's excellence.

  Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her

  As37 she lived now.

  LEONTES As now she might have done,

  So much to my good comfort, as it is

  Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,

  Even with such life of majesty, warm life,

  As now it coldly stands, when first I wooed her!

  I am ashamed. Does not the stone rebuke me

  For being more stone44 than it? O royal piece,

  There's magic in thy majesty, which has

  My evils conjured to remembrance and

  From thy admiring47 daughter took the spirits,

  Standing like stone with thee.

  Kneels before the statue

  PERDITA And give me leave,

  And do not say 'tis superstition50, that

  I kneel and then implore her blessing.-- Lady,

  Dear queen, that ended when I but began,

  Give me that hand of yours to kiss.

  Prevents Perdita from touching Perdita stands?

  PAULINA O, patience!

  The statue is but newly fixed55; the colour's

  not dry.

  CAMILLO My lord, your sorrow was too sore56 laid on,

  Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,

  So many summers dry58. Scarce any joy

  Did ever so long live; no sorrow

  But killed itself much sooner.

  POLIXENES Dear my brother,

  Let him that was the cause62 of this have power

  To take off so much grief from you as he

  Will piece up in64 himself.

  PAULINA Indeed, my lord,

  If I had thought the sight of my poor image

  Would thus have wrought67 you -- for the stone is mine --

  I'd not have showed it.

  LEONTES Do not draw the curtain.

  PAULINA No longer shall
you gaze on't, lest your fancy70

  May think anon it moves.

  LEONTES Let be, let be.

  Would I were dead, but that methinks already --

  What was he that did make it?-- See, my lord,

  Would you not deem it breathed? And that those veins

  Did verily76 bear blood?

  POLIXENES Masterly done.

  The very life seems warm upon her lip.

  LEONTES The fixture79 of her eye has motion in't,

  As we are mocked with art.

  PAULINA I'll draw the curtain.

  My lord's almost so far transported82 that

  He'll think anon it lives.

  LEONTES O, sweet Paulina,

  Make me to think so twenty years together!

  No settled senses86 of the world can match

  The pleasure of that madness. Let't87 alone.

  PAULINA I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirred you, but

  I could afflict you farther.

  LEONTES Do, Paulina,

  For this affliction has a taste as sweet

  As any cordial92 comfort. Still, methinks

  There is an air comes from her93. What fine chisel

  Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,

  For I will kiss her.

  PAULINA Good my lord, forbear:

  The ruddiness97 upon her lip is wet.

  You'll mar98 it if you kiss it, stain your own

  With oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?

  LEONTES No, not these twenty years

  PERDITA So long could I

  Stand by, a looker-on.

  PAULINA Either forbear103,

  Quit presently104 the chapel, or resolve you

  For more amazement. If you can behold it,

  I'll make the statue move indeed, descend

  And take you by the hand. But then you'll think --

  Which I protest against -- I am assisted

  By wicked powers109.

  LEONTES What you can make her do,

  I am content to look on. What to speak,

  I am content to hear, for 'tis as easy

  To make her speak as move.

  PAULINA It is required

  You do awake your faith. Then all stand still.

  On116: those that think it is unlawful business

  I am about, let them depart.

  LEONTES Proceed:

  No foot shall stir.

  Hermione comes down Music

  To Hermione

  PAULINA Music; awake her: strike120!

  'Tis time: descend: be stone no more: approach:

  Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,

  I'll fill your grave up123. Stir. Nay, come away.

  Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him124

  Dear life redeems you.-- You perceive she stirs.

  Start not. Her actions shall be holy as

  You hear my spell is lawful. Do not shun her

  Until you see her die again, for then

  You kill her double128. Nay, present your hand:

  When she was young you wooed her, now in age

  Is she become the suitor?131

  LEONTES O, she's warm!

  Touches her

  If this be magic, let it be an art

  Lawful as eating.

  POLIXENES She embraces him.

  CAMILLO She hangs about his neck.

  If she pertain to life137 let her speak too.

  POLIXENES Ay, and make it manifest138 where she has lived,

  Or how stol'n from the dead.

  PAULINA That she is living,

  Were it but told you, should be hooted141 at

  Like an old tale. But it appears she lives,

  Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.--

  Please you to interpose, fair madam. Kneel

  To Perdita

  And pray your mother's blessing.-- Turn,

  To Hermione

  good lady,

  Our Perdita is found.

  HERMIONE You gods, look down

  And from your sacred vials pour your graces

  Upon my daughter's head!-- Tell me, mine own.

  Where hast thou been preserved150? Where lived? How found

  Thy father's court? For thou shalt hear that I,

  Knowing by Paulina that the oracle

  Gave hope thou wast in being153, have preserved

  Myself to see the issue154.

  PAULINA There's time enough for that,

  Lest they desire upon this push to trouble

  Your joys with like relation156. Go together,

  You precious winners all. Your exultation

  Partake159 to every one. I, an old turtle,

  Will wing me to some withered bough and there

  My mate161, that's never to be found again,

  Lament till I am lost162.

  To Hermione, then also Polixenes

  LEONTES O, peace, Paulina!

  Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,

  As I by thine a wife. This is a match165,

  And made between's166 by vows. Thou hast found mine --

  But how, is to be questioned, for I saw her,

  As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many

  A prayer upon her grave. I'll not seek far --

  For170 him, I partly know his mind -- to find thee

  An honourable husband.-- Come, Camillo,

  And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty

  Is richly noted and here justified173

  By us, a pair of kings.-- Let's from this place.--

  What? Look upon my brother.-- Both your

  pardons,

  That e'er I put between your holy looks

  My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,

  And son unto the king, whom, heavens directing,

  Is troth-plight179 to your daughter.-- Good Paulina,

  Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely

  Each one demand181, and answer to his part

  Performed in this wide gap of time since first

  We were dissevered183. Hastily, lead away.

  Exeunt

  TEXTUAL NOTES

  F = First Folio text of 1623, the only authority for the play F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632

  Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor

  SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker's name)

  F includes list of parts ("The Names of the Actors") at end of text

  1.2.3 burden spelled Burthen in F 126 And = F2. F = A 188 do = Ed. F = do's 241 they say = F2. F = say 318 hobby-horse = Ed. F = Holy-Horse 2.1.6 SH FIRST LADY = Ed. F = Lady

  2.3.45 What = F2. F = Who 3.2.10 Silence = Ed. F prints as a stage direction

  3.3.71 bairn spelled barne in F 114 made = Ed. F = mad 4.3.1 SH AUTOLYCUS = Ed. Not in F 35 counters spelled Compters in F 53 offends = F2. F = offend 4.4.13 Digest it = F2. F = Digest 14 swoon = Ed. F = sworne 113 your = F2. F = you 184 out = Ed. F = on't 241 SH AUTOLYCUS = Ed. Not in F 264 kiln spelled kill in F 358 square spelled squire in F 459 acknowledged = F2. F = acknowledge 463 who = F2. F = whom 469 shalt see = Ed. F = shalt neuer see 480 hoop = Ed. F = hope 550 whom = F2. F = who 710 flayed spelled fled in F 806 or = F2. F = at 5.1.93 SH PAULINA = Ed. Assigned to Cleomenes in F

  5.3.21 Lonely = Ed. F = Louely

  1. This engraving, the frontispiece to Francis Kirkman's The Wits (1672-73), depicts a number of famous dramatic characters, with Sir John Falstaff and the Hostess in the foreground, but it is most interesting for showing what a curtained "discovery space" at the back of the stage may have looked like: Hermione posed as the statue would have been revealed when Paulina drew the curtain. The space would also have been used when Prospero "discovers" Miranda and Ferdinand playing chess at the climax of The Tempest.

  SCENE-BY-SCENE ANALYSIS

  ACT 1 SCENE 1

  Archidamus and Camillo discuss the relationship between Bohemia and Sicilia. Archidamus comments on the "great
difference" between the kingdoms. The deliberate placing of Sicilia and Bohemia at "the ends of opposed winds" leads the way for other "opposites" in the play, such as court versus country and comedy versus tragedy.

  ACT 1 SCENE 2

  Lines 1-131: Polixenes intends to return home after a nine-month visit to Sicilia. Leontes begs him to stay. Their exchange is courtly, emphasizing the public nature of their roles and the setting, although their references to each other as "brother" suggest a deep personal friendship. Leontes draws his pregnant wife, Hermione, into the conversation and she adds her own pleas that Polixenes will stay. Her language is playful and affectionate toward both men as she reminds them of their childhood friendship. Polixenes' response is lighthearted as he describes himself and Leontes as "twinned lambs that did frisk i'th'sun," an image of innocence (and perhaps a harbinger of its loss). Although Hermione joins in with his banter, Leontes' responses are markedly brief. Polixenes agrees to stay and Leontes says that his wife has only spoken "once" "To better purpose," which was when she agreed to be his "for ever" by marrying him. Polixenes and Hermione walk apart and Leontes watches them.

  Lines 132-244: Leontes' aside reveals the intense emotions that have been concealed by his courtly manner. He shows his suspicion and jealousy of Polixenes and Hermione, observing that their relationship is "Too hot, too hot!" (one of many motifs linked to heat and coldness). Although there seems little evidence, he has convinced himself that they are having an affair, and his anger is evident in his disjointed speech and base sexual imagery. He turns to his son, Mamillius, and asks if he is indeed his "calf." The boy responds artlessly, emphasizing his childhood innocence in comparison to the jealousies of the adult world. Leontes finds some reassurance in the boy's similarity to himself. Polixenes and Hermione notice that he is "unsettled," but he denies it, commenting on Mamillius' similarity to himself as a child, and inquiring after Polixenes' own son. He says that he will walk with Mamillius and asks Hermione to entertain Polixenes, commenting aside that he is "angling now," introducing the motif of entrapment. He watches them, jealously interpreting their smallest actions as signs of love. Camillo arrives and Leontes sends Mamillius away.

  Lines 245-403: Leontes informs Camillo that Polixenes "will yet stay longer." Camillo innocently comments that it was Hermione who made him change his mind. Leontes' aside shows that he assumes that the whole court is "whisp'ring" about him. He confuses Camillo with questions about Polixenes and court rumors, before telling him his suspicions. Leontes insists that Camillo must have heard talk about his "slippery" wife, but Camillo is shocked and refuses to hear his "sovereign mistress clouded so." He urges Leontes to be "cured Of this diseased opinion," raising a recurring motif of sickness. Leontes asks Camillo to poison his friend. Camillo refuses, reiterating his belief in Hermione's innocence, but Leontes flies into a rage and Camillo agrees, but only on condition that Leontes return afterward to a normal relationship with Hermione. Camillo urges Leontes to show "a countenance as clear As friendship wears at feasts," raising the motif of deceptive appearances.