Theatre / The Winter's Tale

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As the play is Older Than Steam and most twists in Shakespeare's plots are now widely known, all spoilers on this page are unmarked.

The Winter's Tale is a tragicomedy (or romance, depending on your point of view) by William Shakespeare.

The plot is thus: King Leontes of Sicilia unreasonably suspects his wife, Hermione, of having an affair with his best friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia. Believing his newborn daughter Perdita is illegitimate, he sends Hermione to prison and orders his manservant Antigonus to abandon Perdita in the wilderness. Hermione pleads for reason, to no avail.

Leontes's other child, Prince Mamillius, dies because he has been separated from his mother, and soon after, Hermione dies as well. Leontes realizes his error and decides to grieve for his family for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Antigonus bemoans his job but leaves the infant Perdita in a wild area of Bohemia before being devoured by a bear. A shepherd and his son find the baby and resolve to care for her.

Flashforward sixteen years! Time itself comes onstage to tell the audience that Florizel, Polixenes's son, has fallen for Perdita (who knows nothing of her royal heritage). His father is none too pleased and decides to spy on them at a sheep-shearing festival. Florizel, after being confronted by his father, flees with Perdita to Sicilia, and everyone (including Lovable Rogue Autolycus) pursues. There, Perdita's heritage is revealed. Father and daughter reunite just as a statue of Hermione is brought onstage. Amazingly, the statue comes to life, and so the happy family is together once more. ^note Except Mamillius, he kinda gets screwed. Autolycus becomes the servant of Perdita's foster father, and all loose ends are tied up nicely.

It is believed to be one of Shakespeare's last plays; although there is no firm evidence as to when it was first staged, the earliest references to performances of The Winter's Tale date to 1611. The play is famous for a number of things: the vast difference in tone between the first part, which plays out like a tragedy, and the second part, which is more of a pastoral comedy; the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane scene at the end, where Hermione's statue comes to life; the name Hermione, which became famous in a certain book series; and of course, the iconic stage direction Exit, Pursued by a Bear, proof that even Shakespeare knew Bears Are Bad News.

A list of adaptations can be found here.

Don't confuse it with the 1983 novel Winter's Tale and its 2014 film adaptation, or with the 1992 French film A Tale of Winter (which has a big Shout-Out to this play).

Tropes in The Winter's Tale:

• Aerith and Bob: Paulina and her husband Antigonus (and the king Leontes, and the other king Polixenes, etc., etc., etc.)
• Adaptational Heroism / Adaptational Villainy: Zigzagged with Leontes. In the first act, his jealousy is shown as being far more rapid and less plausible than Pandosto's — as the original story emphasised the lengthy periods of time Bellaria (Hermione) and Egistus (Polixenes) spent alone together innocently bonding — and upon hearing the Oracle's verdict Pandosto does not defy it but repents immediately. However, this is amply counterbalanced by Shakespeare's removal of the later plot element of Pandosto unwittingly lusting over his own daughter Fawnia (Perdita), trying to co-erce her into yielding to him and throwing Dorastus (Florizel) in prison; remorse over this later element was part of what what influenced Pandosto to kill himself.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Mamilius, who doesn’t want to be treated like a baby, yet has some very precocious opinions about the fashions of women’s eyebrows.
• Aesop Collateral Damage: Aside from the permanent deaths of Mamilius and Antigonus, Hermione also falls victim to this. Leontes' 16 years of repentance for his sins makes is intended to make him "worthy" of Hermione again, but there is no acknowledgement of what those 16 years did to her, kept in seclusion for all that time, unable to show her face to the world. If anything, it feels like more of a penance for her than it was for him.
• Arcadia: Bohemia, where it is always spring, unlike wintry Sicilia. Despite it being the other way around in Real Life.
• Artistic License – Geography: Ben Jonson's reaction to the "seacoast of Bohemia," was more or less this (Bohemia is more or less where the Czech Republic is right now). Debate rages about whether Shakespeare was trying to get someone's goat with that or not. The Other Wiki offers various explanations for this geographical error, one being that in the past, the lands of Bohemia did border the Adriatic coast. Alternatively, it's a way of saying "This story is set nowhere real".
• The Atoner: Leontes for sixteen years after Hermione's death.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Paulina tries to invoke this, taking the newborn baby princess to Leontes in the hope his heart will soften. He refuses to see the baby and orders her killed.
• The Barnum: Autolycus
• Bears Are Bad News: Antigonus is torn apart by a wild bear after abandoning baby Perdita.
• Break the Haughty: Hermione's death does this to Leontes. Turns out it was intentionally invoked by Paulina and Hermione. Maybe.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: Inverted with Autolycus. When he poses as a robbed traveler, he claims that he was robbed by a man who was disgraced out of court who consorts with "troll-my-dames", a man of many "knavish professions" who goes by the name... Autolycus.
• Clothing Switch: Florizel and Perdita beg Autolycus to swap clothes with them to escape from their fathers. Autolycus, whose pockets are full of ill-gotten gains, is not exactly keen but can't give them a good reason not to, so off they go.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Poor Antigonus; after his famous exit the shepherd's son describes the way the bear ripped him to pieces.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: An oracle at Delphi and the doctrine of Original Sin both in the same act.
• Deus ex Machina:
  • The Oracle's uncharacteristically straightforward prophecy is all it takes for Leontes to realize his error, albeit after a momentary defiant stand.
  • Hermione being alive.
• Diabolus ex Machina:
  • The famous bear appears completely at random, though early in another scene another character does warn Antigonus that this part of Bohemia is notorious for predators (presumably why the baby was abandoned there to begin with, to give it a quick death instead of a slow one by starvation).
  • Mamilius dies immediately after Leontes defies the Oracle’s words, out of worry for his mother. Leontes at least seems to think that it is divine payback from Apollo for disrespecting his oracle.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: The Trope Namer, but actually not played straight: Antigonus is pursued and torn apart by a bear after abandoning Perdita in the wilderness, but he's very sympathetic.
• Faux Death: Hermione. Maybe.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The explanation for Leontes's behaviour, though even that doesn't excuse the stuff he pulls.
• Heel–Face Turn: Camillo initially (albeit reluctantly) agrees to go along with Leontes's plan to poison Polixenes, but recants before doing the deed and warns Polixenes, fleeing Sicily alongside him and allowing the latter to flee Leontes's wrath.
• Honest Advisor: Although the courtiers try to talk Leontes down, they inevitably bend to his jealous will. Paulina is the only one who tells him that his suspicions are groundless and his behavior is tyrannical. The 'tyrant' part gets under his skin especially, as he brings it up at the Kangaroo Court.
• Kangaroo Court: Hermione's trial starts out with Leontes declaring that he wants a fair and open process, but when all the evidence goes against him, he arbitrarily declares Hermione guilty regardless.
• King Incognito: Polixenes and Camillo go in disguise as farmers to the sheep-shearing festival to see just how serious Florizel is about this shepherd girl he's seeing.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • The Oracle of Apollo delivers an uncharacteristically clear message, stating explicitly and in detail that Leontes's suspicions are baseless and all the people he's accused are innocent, and warning of dire consequences if he persists. Despite having promised to abide by the Oracle's pronouncement, Leontes declares that he doesn't believe it and orders the Kangaroo Court to proceed — and immediately a messenger arrives to announce Prince Mamilius’s death.
  • The expedition dispatched to abandon baby Perdita in the wilderness all meet violent death as they depart; the ship is wrecked in a storm as it pulls away from shore, and Antigonus, the leader of the expedition, doesn't even make it back to the ship before being eaten by the famous bear.
  • The Old Shepherd decides to adopt the baby abandoned on the seashore— "I'll take it up for pity," he says. Only then does his son find a casket full of gold, rewarding them for their kindness.
• Lighter and Softer: The primary source for the plot was Robert Greene's Pandosto. Shakespeare removed the dark plot points in which Pandosto (Leontes) unwittingly lusted after his own daughter Fawnia (Perdita) and tried to separate her from Dorastus (Florizel) before killing himself in remorse at the end of the story, and added the "resurrection" of Queen Hermione (whose equivalent character from the original, Bellaria, stayed dead.)
• Literal-Minded: The Shepherd tells his son to forgive a rude courtier instead of making him fight, because now that they are gentlemen, they must be gentle.
• Lovable Rogue: Autolycus, the "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles", who pickpockets and cons his way through life.
• Mad Oracle: Averted; oracles have never been so blunt.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Leontes suspects the paternity of both his son and his daughter. He eventually decides that Mamilius does look enough like him, but refuses his daughter entirely and orders her to be exposed in a remote land.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • It could be that the statue of Hermione really does come to life. It could also be that her servant, Paulina, kept her hidden for years and only decided to reveal it once her daughter showed up.
  • Mamilius's death is announced immediately after Leontes defies the Oracle's words, and he takes it as divine retribution from Apollo. However, it was earlier established that he had suddenly taken ill upon his mother's imprisonment, leaving the possibility his health gave out at a fortuitous moment.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Perdita comes from the Latin word for "lost"; the meaning of the name is intentional in-universe as well since she is only named after her father has ordered her banishment.
  • In Greek mythology, Autolycus was the son of Hermes, the god of thieves, and a well-known crook.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Hermione's gestures of friendliness towards Polixenes and success in persuading him to stay another week (something which Leontes asked her to do) are proof enough for Leontes that she's unfaithful to him.
• Mood Whiplash: So much. It starts out as a tragedy, then swings around into a comedy, complete with romance and wacky hijinks.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: Perdita is left to die in the wilderness but is found and raised by a family of shepherds.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Leontes, the instant Mamilius' death is announced, is repentant of his folly. He spends the next sixteen years despising himself and praying over his dead wife and lost children.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: If Paulina hadn't insisted on taking newborn Perdita to see her father in the hope that she would soften his heart, he may not have ordered her husband Antigonus to take Perdita and abandon her somewhere unpleasant, preventing Antigonus's death and potentially Mamillius' too.
• No Name Given: Perdita's foster father and foster brother are not named, even in the script, where the father is denoted as "Shepherd", and the son is denoted as "Clown" (referring to the performer's role in the show, as the Plucky Comic Relief, rather than the character's identity in the story).
• Number Two:
  • Camillo, Leontes's manservant, plays this role to his master at first. After refusing to poison Polixenes, he joins the latter and becomes his Number Two instead.
  • Paulina plays this role to Hermione, working to clear her mistress's name even in prison and, later, possibly shielding the still-alive Hermione from Leontes's wrath until the time is right.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Leontes and Hermione have to endure the death of their son thanks to Leontes' jealous raving. As a penitent, he says that to hear Mamilius talked of is to feel his death again.
• Pair the Spares: At the end, Leontes rewards the widowed Paulina by marrying her off to his servant Camillo.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted; various disguises adopted are transparent to various degrees.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Polixenes threatens to disinherit Florizel if he maintains his intent to marry Perdita. The Shepherd isn't happy either when he learns that Perdita knew she was courting the Prince.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The shepherd's son, Perdita's foster brother, whose role consists almost entirely of comic relief bits (usually involving him getting gulled by the Lovable Rogue Autolycus), and occasionally to give his father somebody to exposit at. He gets one important bit of exposition of his own, describing how Laser-Guided Karma befell the people who abandoned Perdita, but even that becomes a comic relief bit because he makes such a muddle of it.
• The Prophecy: Apollo decrees that Leontes shall be heirless until his lost daughter be recovered. Paulina and Leontes cite this as justification for his refusal to remarry.
• Rags to Royalty: Perdita is raised by a family of shepherds, unaware of her true parentage until her foster father decides to reveal it so she can marry Florizel.
• Raised by Dudes: Perdita, although she seems to come out as a reasonably well-adjusted young woman.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Paulina spends half her scenes chewing out Leontes, and not without justification.
• Royal Blood: Perdita.
  Polixenes: Nothing she does or seems
  But smacks of something greater than herself,
  Too noble for this place.
• Second-Hand Storytelling:
  • After the bear chases Antigonus off-stage, we get a conversation between two shepherds with one telling the other in lavish detail how he just saw a man being torn apart by a bear.
  • Perdita's reunion with her father, as well as the resolving of many of the plots, takes place entirely off-screen, and instead we have a conversation between a few gentlemen, one of which notes how amazing it was and how it would have been a shame to miss it.
  • The very first scene is of minor gentlemen conversing and bringing Camillo up to speed about Polixenes's friendship with Leontes and extended stay in Sicily.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Both Hermione and Leontes. In Green's Pandosto, the source for this story, Bellaria (Hermione) died for real when she heard of her son's death, and at the very end of the story Pandosto (Leontes) kills himself in remorse.
• Time Skip: Sixteen years pass between the third and fourth acts.
• Title Confusion: Often erroneously called "A Winter's Tale".
• Title Drop: See page quote.
• Undying Loyalty: Paulina to Hermione. In her eyes, no woman in the world was her equal, and no amount of repentance from Leontes would be enough to make up for what he did to her.
• Unequal Pairing: Florizel the prince wants to marry Perdita the shepherdess. She knows it's going to be trouble but accepts his suit anyway. The revelation that she's actually Leontes' daughter makes their marriage acceptable.
• Villain Protagonist: Leontes is the primary focus for the first half of the play before the Time Skip, and is also a Green-Eyed Monster destroying his household and family for no reason.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Paulina takes the courtiers to task for their wishy-washy response to Leontes' sudden fit of jealousy instead of telling him outright that he's being stupid and unjust.
  • The Shepherd upbraids Perdita for allowing Florizel's attentions when she knew he was a prince, getting all of them into hot water with King Polixenes.
• Women Are Wiser:
  • Paulina is the only one willing to properly stand up to Leontes and tell him straight-out that his behavior is unacceptable and tyrannous. Notably, she says she'd be willing to duel for Hermione's honor if she were a man, which none of the men in court are.
  • Perdita knows that there's no way King Polixenes is going to approve of his son marrying a mere shepherd girl and warns Florizel that there'll be trouble if he actually goes through with it... though when it comes to the point, she's willing to go through with the wedding.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Autolycus enters the play by pretending to be a mugged traveler, then pickpocketing (and sometimes more) the Shepherd's Son when the boy tries to aid him.
• You Have Waited Long Enough: The courtiers try this on Leontes, arguing that he needs an heir.