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Renaissance. The Leontes story is a
dark, Greek-style tragedy set in the
classical Mediterranean. Perdita
and Florizel’s story is a romance of
the kind developed in Europe, and
set in Bohemia. Shakespeare is
perhaps showing how the classical
flame has been renewed by a new
European generation.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
the star-crossed lovers escape into
the woods to fulfill their romance.
In The Winter’s Tale, however, when
Polixenes forbids his son Florizel
from marrying the apparently lowly
shepherdess Perdita, the young
lovers flee from the summer fantasy
world of Bohemia to the wintry
Sicilian court. It is this reversal that
enables them to be the bearers of
redemption, bringing warmth and
life back to the chill of Leontes’s
Sicily. In fact, their return literally
restores life, because at the
extraordinary climax of the play, a
statue of Hermione comes to life.
Statue of limitations
There has been much debate about
the statue. Is it a statue that comes
miraculously to life, or has
Hermione been in hiding for
16 years, waiting for this moment?
Hints emerge that she has been
hiding, when it is said that Paulina
has been visiting the hidden house
ever since she died. But this whole
moment is unusual in that we,
the audience, don’t see it coming.
Most of Shakespeare’s plays employ
dramatic irony. We know what
some characters in the play don’t,
and the drama comes as they finally
discover the truth. In Othello, forTHE KING’S MAN
Daffodils,
That come before
the swallow dares, and
Take the winds of March
with beauty
Perdita
Act 4, Scene 4The play’s distinct parts follow nature’s
cycle of death, rebirth, and renewal. Winter’s
tragedy is replaced by summer’s rebirth,
problems are solved, and life continues.
instance, we know that Othello has
been duped by Iago and are on the
edge of our seats until the moment
Othello learns what we already
knew. But Hermione’s coming to life
is a plot twist out of the blue. At the
end of Act 3 Paulina tells us that
Hermione died, and such is
Paulina’s forthrightness that we
have no reason to doubt her word.
Some critics find this twist so
unbelievable that they feel it
weakens the play. Yet the surprise
of the living statue is deliberately
intended by Shakespeare. He
acknowledges through Paulina
that the resurrection is scarcely
believable: “That she is living, /
Were it but told you, should be
hooted at / Like an old tale”
(5.3.117–119). And herein lies an
answer. Are we meant to “hoot” at
it, provoked to laughter, so that we
leave the theater not lost in gloom
but chuckling at the wonderful
absurdity? Maybe, then, Paulina’s
words “You precious winners all”
(5.3.132) are addressed to us.
Shakespeare has given us hope
that even the very worst errors
can be redeemed. ■Winter death
Leontes’s jealousy of
Polixenes sets in motion
a series of disasters.
Mamillius and Hermione die.
But the tragedy leaves the
seed of a resolution—in
the form of a banished
baby daughter.SicilySummer rebirth
The daughter, Perdita,
grows up in a happy land of
festivals and revelry. She falls
in love with Florizel, who is
Polixenes’s son. They are a
new generation unmarked
by the sins of the old.Renewal,
life continues
Perdita and Florizel
return to Sicily to heal.
As if through the power of
youth and love, a statue
of Hermione is brought to
life. Leontes is forgiven,
and harmony
is restored.Bohemia