The Winter's Tale

William Shakespeare

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9780486113074
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Britisches Drama

"A merry winter's tale would drive away the time trimly," suggests a character from The Old Wives' Tale, a play by one of Shakespeare's lesser-known contemporaries. And indeed, Elizabethan audiences recognized a "winter's tale" as a fanciful story, rendered all the more appealing by its very improbability. The Bard's version of this traditional entertainment is a charming romantic comedy, but with undertones of tragedy.
Running an emotional gamut from betrayal and broken hearts to a lighthearted romp, the tale begins with the tyrannical actions of a jealous king, whose baseless suspicions of his wife and best friend destroy his own family. The play's second half takes place sixteen years later, when the lovely plot turns toward romance and reconciliation. A sheep-shearing festival provides the occasion for a picturesque assembly of country folk, who contribute some of the play's finest moments with their rustic songs and dances.
Originally presented circa 1611, this tragicomedy abounds in disguises and mistaken identities, courtly intrigue, miracles, and all the theatrical elements that make Shakespeare's works a timeless source of entertainment and enlightenment.

ACT V

SCENE I. A Room in Leontes’ Palace

Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and Servants

CLEOMENES.

Sir, you have done enough, and have perform’d A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make,
Which you have not redeem’d; indeed, paid down
More penitence than done trespass: at the last,
Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;
With them forgive yourself.

LEON.

Whilst I remember Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them,³³⁴ and so still think of
The wrong I did myself: which was so much,
That heirless it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy’d the sweet‘st companion that e’er man
Bred his hopes out of.

PAUL.

True, too true,³³⁵ my lord: If, one by one, you wedded all the world,
Or from the all that are took something good,
To make a perfect woman, she you kill’d
Would be unparallel’d.

LEON.

I think so. Kill’d! She I kill’d! I did so: but thou strikest me
Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter
Upon thy tongue as in my thought: now, good now,³³⁶
Say so but seldom.

CLEO.

Not at all, good lady:
You might have spoken a thousand things that would
Have done the time more benefit and graced
Your kindness better.

PAUL.

You are one of those Would have him wed again.

DION.

If you would not so, You pity not the state, nor the remembrance
Of his most sovereign name; consider little
What dangers, by his highness’ fail of issue,
May drop upon his kingdom and devour
Incertain lookers on.³³⁷ What were more holy
Than to rejoice the former queen is well?⁵
What holier than, for royalty’s repair,
For present comfort and for future good,
To bless the bed of majesty again
With a sweet fellow to ’t?

PAUL.

There is none worthy, Respecting her⁶ that’s gone. Besides, the gods
Will have fulfill’d their secret purposes;
For has not the divine Apollo said,
Is’t not the tenor of his oracle,
That King Leontes shall not have an heir
Till his lost child be found? which that it shall,
Is all as monstrous to our human reason
As my Antigonus to break his grave
And come again to me; who, on my life,
Did perish with the infant. ’T is your counsel
My lord should to the heavens be contrary,
Oppose against their wills. [To LEONTES] Care not for issue;
The crown will find an heir: great Alexander
Left his to the worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.

LEON.

Good Paulina, Who hast the memory of Hermione,
I know, in honour, O, that ever I
Had squared me to thy counsel!—then, even now,
I might have look’d upon my queen’s full eyes;
Have taken treasure from her lips,—

PAUL.

And left them
More rich for what they yielded.

LEON.

Thou speak’st truth. No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,
And better used, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,
Where we offenders now, appear³³⁸ soul-vex’d,
And begin, “Why to me?”³³⁹

PAUL.

Had she such power, She had just cause.

LEON.

She had; and would incense me To murder her I married.

PAUL.

I should so. Were I the ghost that walk’d, I ’ld bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me for what dull part in ’t
You chose her; then I ’ld shriek, that even your ears
Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow’d
Should be “Remember mine.”³⁴⁰

LEON.

Stars, stars, And all eyes else dead coals! Fear thou no wife;
I’ll have no wife, Paulina.

PAUL.

Will you swear Never to marry but by my free leave?

LEON. Never, Paulina; so be blest my spirit!

PAUL. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.

CLEO. You tempt him over-much.

PAUL.

Unless another, As like Hermione as is her picture,
Affront³⁴¹ his eye.

CLEO. Good madam,—

PAUL.

I have done. Yet, if my lord will marry,—if you will, sir,
No remedy, but you will,—give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such
As, walk’d your first queen’s ghost, it should take...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Note
• Table of Contents
• Dramatis Personæ
• ACT I
• ACT II
• ACT III
• ACT IV
• ACT V