An interesting one. The first part is a tragedy; the second transforms it into a comedy. There are a lot of loose ends that are, mostly, tied up in the penultimate scene, in a series of disclosures to Autolycus, offered for unclear reasons.
I find Autolycus are curious character — a villain who morphs into a trickster. Paulina is, in my view, the hero of the story, though it is disappointing that she is married off at the end after she declares she is going to morn for her dead husband. Apparently marrying everyone off is de rigueur for a comedy.
Act 1 – Leonte becomes insanely jealous
1.1. Two courtiers in Sicily, one being Camillo who will feature in the tale, talk about the magnificent hospitality of the Sicilian court towards Polixenes , King of Bohemia, and of the long friendship between Polixenes and Leontes, King of Sicily.
1.2. Leontes and Polixenes converse, with the former urging Polixenes to stay longer, and Polixenes saying he must depart. After a bit – at the bidding of Leontes, I believe – Hermione, the queen, joins in, urging Polixenes to stay. But at some point Leontes becomes disturbed by the queen’s urgings, and grows insanely jealous. He decides the queen has been unfaithful with Polixenes , and orders Camillo to murder Polixenes , even while attempting to pretend that everything is fine.
Polixenes notices that something is amiss and presses Camillo, who very unhappy with Leontes’ orders (and believing in the queen’s faithfulness), finally reveals Leontes’ orders to Polixenes . They decide to hurriedly depart for Bohemia.
Act 2 – Polixenes & Camillo escape; Hermione imprisoned and Perdita born
2.1. The hasty departure confirms Leontes’ paranoid beliefs, and he accuses Hermione of adultery. She defends herself, and the lords speak in her defense, but Leontes will believe no one and has her cast into prison. He announces he has sent messengers to the oracle of Apollo to obtain the god’s advice
2.2. Paulina, a lady in waiting to Hermione and wife to Antigonus a Sicilian courtier, tries to visit Hermione in Prison. Hermione has just had a daughter in prison, and Paulina convinces Hermione to give her the baby to take to Leontes, believe the baby will soften his heart.
[Some time – around 23 days I think – has passed]
2.3. Paulina’s audience with Leontes does not go well. He is further enrages by her refusal to condemn Hermione, and rejects the baby – first ordering the baby to burned, but then changing his mind and ordering Antigonus to take the baby to a remote place and abandon her there. At the end of the scene, news comes that the messengers to Apollo’s oracle have landed and are hastening to court.
Act 3 – Hermione accused; Leonetes does not believe Apollo’s oracle; Maximillus & Hermione die, and Perdita is abandoned but saved.
3.1. The messengers returning with the oracle discuss the ceremony they observed, and express wishes for Hermione’s good fortune.
3.2. Hermione is defending herself in court, but Leontes will not believe her, even when the messengers arrive and the message from the Oracle pronounces her innocent. Then news arrives that Maximillus, Leontes and Hermione’s son – upset by his father’s accusation of his mother – has died. Hermione swoons at the news, and is carried off by Hermione. Leontes repents, and Paulina returns with the news that Hermione has died. Leontes vows to spend the rest of his life grieving for his wife and son.
3.3. Meanwhile Antigonus has arrived in Bohemia with the baby, and abandons her in the wilderness, but leaves her with a chest of gold. Shortly thereafter he is chased and eaten by a bear, and the ship that brought him founders in a storm. As this occurs, a shepherd discovers the baby, and the gold: “We are lucky, boy, and to be so still requires nothing but secrecy.”
Act 4 – 16 years pass; Polixene’s son in love with Perdita; Autolycus appears; many things happen
4.1. Father Time appears and bridges the 16 year gap in the play
4.2. Polixenes and Camillo talk – Camillo is homesick and wishes to return to Sicily; Polixenes, who has favored Camillo for saving his life, does not want him to. Instead, he asks him to join him in donning a disguise and going to investigate what his son, Florizell, is up to at the shepherd’s home where he has been spending time.
4.3. We meet Autolycus, a thief and con artist, and also former servant to Florizell. He encounters the son of the shepherd, and steals him money. He then decides that he will attend the sheep shearing party that the son was buying things for, and engage in further thievery.
4.4. [A huge scene] There is a sheep shearing feast. Polixenes and Camillo arrive, in disguise, and are welcomed as guests and presented with flowers by Perdita, the now-grown child of Leontes and Hermione.
Various conversations ensue:
- – Florizell declares his love for Perdita, while Perdita expresses her doubts due to their differences in status (which she can detect, even though he is in disguise as Doricles).
- Polixenes and Perdita have a conversation about flowers [4.4.90-120], involving whether certain flower hybrids are bastards or natural. Perdita is suspicious of them, whereas Polixenes is accepting [I don’t really understand this exchange – one would think that Polixenes would be suspicious of such mixing….*]
- – Camillo appears to flirt with Perdita, who brushes off his compliments. …Camillo is struck by her beauty and appears to recognize that she seems of higher birth.
- – Polixenes asks the shepherd who Perdita’s suitor is, and the shepherd says his name is Doricles, and that they are very much in love.
- – Autolycus arrives, and offers various trinkets for sale. The lowborn women are interested and press their suitors to buy them; Perdita is uninterested.
- – Florizell and Perdita are about to handfast, but Camillo intervenes and presses Florizell to invite his father to the handfasting, but Florizell resists
- – Polixene’s reveals himself and forbids Florizell to marry Perdita, and threatens to disinherit him and have Perdita killed. The shepherd is shocked and frightened
Camillo reveals himself to Florizell, and after discussion they decide Florizell and Perdita should flee to Sicily, where Camillo will provide for them, and hope for a reapproachement with Polixenes.
– Autolycus reappears. “Ha, ha, what a fool Honesty is. And Trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman.” He has stolen most of the purses of the guests, though not all. Camillo notices him, and orders him to exchange clothes with Florizell… now Autolycus has the clothes of someone of higher station, which will enable him to dupe the Shepherd and his son.
– The Shepherd and his son confer, and decide to go to the King and show the bundle of things that was with Perdita when they found her. The believe it will show that she is a changeling, or at least not their child, and that they will thus avoid punishment.
– Autolycus appears convinces the Shepherd and his son that he is a courtier, and says that the Shepherd and his relatives will all be killed because of this. They give him gold to present their case to the king, and Autolycus agrees, both for the gold and because if he turns them over to the king it may regain him favor in the court. “If I had a mind to be honest, I see Fortune would not suffer me. She drops booties in my mouth.” Autolycus decides he will bring the Shepherd and son on board the ship that will bring the prince to Sicily.
Act 5 – Everything is resolved
5.1. Some courtiers urge Leontes to take a wife, but Paulina argues against it – and it is revealed that the oracle said he will not have an heir until his lost daughter is found – and he agrees with her. With more urging from others to marry, Leontes agrees that he will not marry until Paulina approves. News of Florizell’s arrival reaches court; a servant reports that his princess is the fairest woman he has ever seen, and Paulina objects, citing the late Hermione. Leontes wonders about the visit, suspecting that it is forced rather than a visit of state.
Leontes receives Florizell and Perdita, and Florizell pretends that he has been sent by his father. But then, a Lord arrives, bearing a message from Polixenes, who asks him to arrest Florizell, who has fled with a shepherd’s daughter. Leontes seems inclined to accede to Polixenes’ request, but then is persuaded to speak to Polixene’s on their behalf.
5.2. This scene provides a lot of heretofore unknown details that ius useful in tying up lose ends. Autolycus, who is now in Sicily, interviews several courtiers. From the first gentlemanhe learns that the meeting between Polixenes and the Shepherd was momentous: “There was speech in their dumbness; language in their very gesture. They looked as if they had heard of a world ransomed, or of one destroyed.” From the second gentleman he learns that the King’s daughter has been found. Then Paulina’s Steward arrives, and explain the bundle left with baby Perdita included Hermione’s mantle, her jewel, and Antigonous’ letters. Then he describes the reunion between Leontes and Polixenes and Perdita. Further talk reveals Antigonus’ death and the founder of the ship that brought him. Further discussion reveals the existence of Hermione’s statue, its being in the possession of Paulina, and that she has visited in thrice a day… Autolycus also reveals that he brought the Sherperd and his son on board the ship that came to Sicily…. Then the Shepherd and his son arrive, now elevated to being gentlemen, and promise that they will recommend Autolycus to the Prince….
5.3. In the last act, Leontes, Polixenes, Perdita and Florizell, Paulina and Camillo visit the ‘statue’ of Hermione. She comes to life, after an increasingly broad hints reveal that she is not a stature. She embraces Leontes, and then she blesses her daughter. Paulina declares she will lament her dead husband, but Leontes declares that she will marry Camillo
ChatGPT’s answer to my question about why Polixene’s is OK with hybrid (bastard) flowers, whereas Perdita is opposed:
See [4.4.90-120]
*GPT: “Polixenes, an older, more worldly character, admires the “streaked gillyvors” and is impressed by their beauty. However, Perdita, who is more idealistic and morally conscious, rejects these flowers, explaining that they are unnatural. She associates them with “artificial” practices, implying that they are “streaked” or “painted” in a way that corrupts their natural purity. Her response reflects a belief in the superiority of natural beauty and the authenticity of the wild, unadorned flowers she prefers.
Polixenes, on the other hand, is less concerned with the idea of natural purity. His acceptance of the streaked gillyvors can be seen as a symbol of his pragmatism and his understanding of the world, which includes the acceptance of human intervention and artifice. Polixenes is from a more sophisticated, courtly environment, where such artificiality might be more common or even valued. In contrast, Perdita’s rejection of the flowers represents her desire for simplicity and her connection to the pastoral, natural world.
The conversation touches on larger themes in the play, such as the tension between nature and artifice, authenticity and deceit. This dynamic is central to the plot of The Winter’s Tale, where the themes of jealousy, deception, and reconciliation play out. The contrast between Perdita’s natural idealism and Polixenes’ acceptance of human influence on nature can be seen as a reflection of the broader conflict between the innocence of youth and the complexities of adult experience.”
Quotes I like
my desires
Run not before mine honor. nor my lusts
Burn hotter than my faith. [4.437-39]
I should leave grazing, were I of your flock,
and live only by gazing. [4.4.130]
When you do dance I wish you
a wave o’ the sea, that you might ever do
nothing but that, move still, still so,
And own no other function. [4.4.166-168]
From my succession, wipe me, father. I
am heir to my affection. [4.4.569-570]
A course more promising than a wild dedication of yourselves
to unpathed, undreamed shores. [4.4.672-674]
AUTOLYCUS: Ha ha! What a fool honesty is,
And trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman. [4.4.711-712]
The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first
The odds for high and low’s alike
AUTOLYCUS: Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance. [4.4.838-839]
AUTOLYCUS: If I had a mind to be honest, I see Fortune would not suffer me. She drops booties in my mouth. [4.4.964-965]
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