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The Winter’s Tale
Undoubtedly, each of us has done something that caused pain to someone, for which we later endlessly regretted. Unfortunately, the results of such actions can hardly be repaired. Such is the story described by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale: there is a tragic event that cannot be fixed, as in fairy tales, with a wave of the magic wand. And although it has a happy ending, the tale remains "wintry" because it still feels something cold.
At the beginning we find a happy royal family of the king of Sicily, Leontes, who has a young son Prince Mamillius, a beautiful and faithful wife Hermione, who is expecting a second child. The little prince is so charming that all his subjects are enchanted by him.
Camillo
I very well agree with you in the hopes of
him. It is a gallant child—one that indeed physics
the subject, makes old hearts fresh. They that went
on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to
see him a man.
As is always the case in life, we cause ourselves the greatest personal troubles and that is, what others cannot do to you, you do it yourself. Leontes has invited his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), to be his guest. Polixenes was his best childhood friend, the one with whom you expect the sun to shine forever.
Polixenes
We were, fair queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day tomorrow as today,
And to be boy eternal.
The conflict arises from the fact that Leontes doesn't want his friend to leave and asks Hermione to join in his requests to Polixenes to postpone his trip again. The submissive wife does, but her kind sincerity causes Leontes to become so jealous that he suspects adultery.
According to him, the last time she spoke so passionately was when she promised to become his wife.
Leontes
aside
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practiced smiles
As in a looking glass, and then to sigh, as ’twere
The mort o’ th’ deer—O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.—
A conversation about sons ensues and Polixenes declares how much he loves his son Florizel.
Polixenes
He’s all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all.
He makes a July’s day short as December,-
But from now on in the play, the bad events will begin, caused by Leontes's inexorable jealousy.
Leontes
Go play, boy, play. Thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave. Contempt and clamor
Will be my knell. Go play, boy, play.
Now Leontes wants to destroy Hermione and insists that Camillo, the courtier, also accuse the queen of fornication with Polixenes. Camillo, outraged, refuses.
Camillo
I would not be a stander-by to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so without
My present vengeance taken.
Leontes can no longer think straight because of his jealousy.
Leontes
Make that thy question, and go rot!
Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation, sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets—
Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. But the noble courtier informs Polixenes of what Leontes is up to and escapes with him to Bohemia. Polixenes is in dismay by the suspicions and jealousy of Leontes.
Polixenes
O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly, and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to
A savor that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunned,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great’st infection
That e’er was heard or read.
The tragedy in the play is happening. Prince Mamillius will tell Hermione a sad tale because it suits the winter - this is a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Mamillius
A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one
Of sprites and goblins.
The destructive emotions have already overtaken Leontes' reason.
Leontes
There may be in the cup
A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present
Th’ abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander.
There is a plot against my life, my crown.
To the well-meaning advice of the courtier Antigonus, Leontes pays no heed.
Antigonus
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:
Yourself, your queen, your son.
Instead, Leontes asks the Oracle of Delphi if his suspicions are correct. So we tend to often leave the decisions that are important, to be taken in a haphazard way.
Also futile are the efforts of Paulina, Antigonus's wife, to appease Leontes' anger and jealousy by showing him his newborn child, a girl.
Leontes
Traitors,
Will you not push her out? To Antigonus. Give her
the bastard,
Thou dotard; thou art woman-tired, unroosted
By thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,
Take ’t up, I say. Give ’t to thy crone.
Leontes orders Antigonus to take the baby and leave it in the wilderness, which is perhaps impartial and will have more pity on the newborn.
Antigonus
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.
The next scene is painful because it represents Hermione's trial. Whether Shakespeare is here referring to the trial that Henry VIII organized against Queen Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn, is difficult to say. It is possible, but such situations can arise at any time, in any family.
Hermione
Sir, spare your threats.
The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
To me can life be no commodity.
The crown and comfort of my life, your favor,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went.
The message from the Oracle of Delphi arrives that Hermione is innocent, but the irreparable has happened: the unfortunate events have so hurt Prince Mamillius, his mother so cruelly accused, that he dies.
Servant
O sir, I shall be hated to report it.
The Prince your son, with mere conceit and fear
Of the Queen’s speed, is gone.
Hermione is also devastated by the terrible news and later reported dead. Only then does Leontes wakes up to reality, but the only thing left for him is sadness and lamenting the lost loved ones.
Leontes
Once a day I’ll visit
The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there
Shall be my recreation. So long as nature
Will bear up with this exercise, so long
I daily vow to use it. Come, and lead me
To these sorrows.
Following Leontes' command, Antigonus will abandon Leontes' daughter on the seashore of Bohemia, but nature or the gods punish him for this. A storm arises and the ship on which Antigonus is traveling sinks.
Mariner
Ay, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry
And frown upon ’s.
Because of his bad deed, Antigonus is torn apart by a bear. A shepherd finds the baby and calls her Perdita - lost. The sad part of the play ends.
The Chorus appears as Time - in the movies nowadays, we read the caption - Twenty years later - in this case sixteen years have passed. Shakespeare switches genres with the skill and confidence that only he can, and we find ourselves amidst spring and beauty, expecting to wake up in midst of flowers and love. And this really happens - it is implied that the children of Leontes and Polixenes - Perdita and Florizel have grown up and fallen in love with each other, and what will be the fate of this love, whether their fathers will finally reconcile, is a teaser for the viewers to keep them tuned.
A long time has passed and Camillo wants to see the penitent King Leontes, but Polixenes does not want to let him go.
Polixenes
As thou lov’st me, Camillo, wipe not out the
rest of thy services by leaving me now. The need I
have of thee thine own goodness hath made. Better
not to have had thee than thus to want thee.
Prince Florizel is also a concern for both of them.
Camillo
Sir, it is three days since I saw the Prince.
What his happier affairs may be are to me unknown,
but I have missingly noted he is of late
much retired from court and is less frequent to his
princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
It's easy to guess that a young man "disappears" when he's taken in by the love of a pretty girl. This is where the happy tale begins.
Camillo
I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a
daughter of most rare note. The report of her is
extended more than can be thought to begin from
such a cottage.
Autolycus is a thief who carries out his thefts at fairs, his cover up is pretending to be a peddler. He is not treacherous, but cheerful, sings and is always in high spirits.
Autolycus
When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh, the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year,
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
With heigh, the sweet birds, O how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth an edge,
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
Autolycus meets the Clown, Perdita’s “brother”, who as suggested by his name is not very clever, and steals his purse.
The shepherd, Perdita’s “father” is throwing a Sheep-shearing feast: Prince Florizel is of course there to woo Perdita. She is somewhat startled by his position in society and fears that it may interfere with their love.
Perdita
Sir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me;
O, pardon that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o’ th’ land, you have obscured
With a swain’s wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,
Most goddesslike pranked up.
King Polixenes and Camillo also come to the feast to see how much the Prince is in love with his beloved.
Perdita presents the King with a bouquet of spring flowers:
Reverend Sirs,
For you there’s rosemary and rue. These keep
Seeming and savor all the winter long.
Perdita symbolizes spring with the splendor of the budding spring flowers that have bloomed for the celebration.
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one—O, these I lack
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o’er and o’er.
Autolycus sneaks into the crowd and advertises his goods with funny verses.
Autolycus
Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cypress black as e’er was crow,
Gloves as sweet as damask roses,
Masks for faces and for noses,
Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady’s chamber-
The clown is in love with the shepherdess Mopsa. He likes her so much that he buys her a song with an absurd content: about a girl who turned into a fish because she refused intimacy to the boy in love with her. This song is considered good because at least five judges were present at the event. At the insistence of Polixenes, a dance by satyrs is performed: this intensifies the atmosphere at the party. Polixenes and Camillo are disguised and Polixenes tricks Florizel into confessing his love for Perdita.
Florizel
And he, and more
Than he, and men—the Earth, the heavens, and
all—
That were I crowned the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge
More than was ever man’s, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all,
Commend them and condemn them to her service
Or to their own perdition.
These words infuriate Polixenes.
Polixenes
removing his disguise
Mark your divorce,
young sir,
Whom son I dare not call. Thou art too base
To be acknowledged. Thou a scepter’s heir
That thus affects a sheep-hook!—
The young, however, are determined to stay together, and they succeed much more than Romeo and Juliet. The young couple, following Camillo’s advice, run to Sicily and find protection at Leontes court.
After all these years, Leontes has completely repented for his inexplicable jealousy.
Leontes
Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself, which was so much
That heirless it hath made my kingdom and
Destroyed the sweet’st companion that e’er man
Bred his hopes out of.
Florizel presents Perdita as a Libyan princess, the daughter of King Smalus.
Leontes
What might I have been
Might I a son and daughter now have looked on,
Such goodly things as you?
Leontes is atoned for his sin for he really receives a new son and a daughter.
Polixenes and Camillo also arrive in Sicily, however Florizel is determined to fight for his love.
Florizel
to Perdita
Dear, look up.
Though Fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us with my father, power no jot
Hath she to change our loves.
The impostor Autolycus becomes the reason for the happy ending: he has brought the shepherd and his son to the ship on which Polixenes and Camillo sailed and has urged them to tell them about the jewels and gold with which Perdita was found.
From here on, the fairy-tale events unfold. Paulina takes everyone to her villa to show them the statue of Hermione, who seems almost alive, and so much like Perdita everyone is startled. And the statue comes to life, to prove that it is Hermione, who lived all those years here, in Pauline's villa. Of course, Leontes and Hermione get back together, but Leontes insists that his most loyal Paulina and Camillo also have personal happiness, suggesting that they two should marry.
Leontes
O peace, Paulina.
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife. This is a match,
And made between ’s 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—
For him, I partly know his mind—to find thee
An honorable husband.—Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.
Undoubtedly, each of us has done something that caused pain to someone, for which we later endlessly regretted. Unfortunately, the results of such actions can hardly be repaired. Such is the story described by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale: there is a tragic event that cannot be fixed, as in fairy tales, with a wave of the magic wand. And although it has a happy ending, the tale remains "wintry" because it still feels something cold.
At the beginning we find a happy royal family of the king of Sicily, Leontes, who has a young son Prince Mamillius, a beautiful and faithful wife Hermione, who is expecting a second child. The little prince is so charming that all his subjects are enchanted by him.
Camillo
I very well agree with you in the hopes of
him. It is a gallant child—one that indeed physics
the subject, makes old hearts fresh. They that went
on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to
see him a man.
As is always the case in life, we cause ourselves the greatest personal troubles and that is, what others cannot do to you, you do it yourself. Leontes has invited his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), to be his guest. Polixenes was his best childhood friend, the one with whom you expect the sun to shine forever.
Polixenes
We were, fair queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day tomorrow as today,
And to be boy eternal.
The conflict arises from the fact that Leontes doesn't want his friend to leave and asks Hermione to join in his requests to Polixenes to postpone his trip again. The submissive wife does, but her kind sincerity causes Leontes to become so jealous that he suspects adultery.
According to him, the last time she spoke so passionately was when she promised to become his wife.
Leontes
aside
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practiced smiles
As in a looking glass, and then to sigh, as ’twere
The mort o’ th’ deer—O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.—
A conversation about sons ensues and Polixenes declares how much he loves his son Florizel.
Polixenes
He’s all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all.
He makes a July’s day short as December,-
But from now on in the play, the bad events will begin, caused by Leontes's inexorable jealousy.
Leontes
Go play, boy, play. Thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave. Contempt and clamor
Will be my knell. Go play, boy, play.
Now Leontes wants to destroy Hermione and insists that Camillo, the courtier, also accuse the queen of fornication with Polixenes. Camillo, outraged, refuses.
Camillo
I would not be a stander-by to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so without
My present vengeance taken.
Leontes can no longer think straight because of his jealousy.
Leontes
Make that thy question, and go rot!
Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation, sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets—
Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. But the noble courtier informs Polixenes of what Leontes is up to and escapes with him to Bohemia. Polixenes is in dismay by the suspicions and jealousy of Leontes.
Polixenes
O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly, and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to
A savor that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunned,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great’st infection
That e’er was heard or read.
The tragedy in the play is happening. Prince Mamillius will tell Hermione a sad tale because it suits the winter - this is a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Mamillius
A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one
Of sprites and goblins.
The destructive emotions have already overtaken Leontes' reason.
Leontes
There may be in the cup
A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present
Th’ abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander.
There is a plot against my life, my crown.
To the well-meaning advice of the courtier Antigonus, Leontes pays no heed.
Antigonus
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:
Yourself, your queen, your son.
Instead, Leontes asks the Oracle of Delphi if his suspicions are correct. So we tend to often leave the decisions that are important, to be taken in a haphazard way.
Also futile are the efforts of Paulina, Antigonus's wife, to appease Leontes' anger and jealousy by showing him his newborn child, a girl.
Leontes
Traitors,
Will you not push her out? To Antigonus. Give her
the bastard,
Thou dotard; thou art woman-tired, unroosted
By thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,
Take ’t up, I say. Give ’t to thy crone.
Leontes orders Antigonus to take the baby and leave it in the wilderness, which is perhaps impartial and will have more pity on the newborn.
Antigonus
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.
The next scene is painful because it represents Hermione's trial. Whether Shakespeare is here referring to the trial that Henry VIII organized against Queen Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn, is difficult to say. It is possible, but such situations can arise at any time, in any family.
Hermione
Sir, spare your threats.
The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
To me can life be no commodity.
The crown and comfort of my life, your favor,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went.
The message from the Oracle of Delphi arrives that Hermione is innocent, but the irreparable has happened: the unfortunate events have so hurt Prince Mamillius, his mother so cruelly accused, that he dies.
Servant
O sir, I shall be hated to report it.
The Prince your son, with mere conceit and fear
Of the Queen’s speed, is gone.
Hermione is also devastated by the terrible news and later reported dead. Only then does Leontes wakes up to reality, but the only thing left for him is sadness and lamenting the lost loved ones.
Leontes
Once a day I’ll visit
The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there
Shall be my recreation. So long as nature
Will bear up with this exercise, so long
I daily vow to use it. Come, and lead me
To these sorrows.
Following Leontes' command, Antigonus will abandon Leontes' daughter on the seashore of Bohemia, but nature or the gods punish him for this. A storm arises and the ship on which Antigonus is traveling sinks.
Mariner
Ay, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry
And frown upon ’s.
Because of his bad deed, Antigonus is torn apart by a bear. A shepherd finds the baby and calls her Perdita - lost. The sad part of the play ends.
The Chorus appears as Time - in the movies nowadays, we read the caption - Twenty years later - in this case sixteen years have passed. Shakespeare switches genres with the skill and confidence that only he can, and we find ourselves amidst spring and beauty, expecting to wake up in midst of flowers and love. And this really happens - it is implied that the children of Leontes and Polixenes - Perdita and Florizel have grown up and fallen in love with each other, and what will be the fate of this love, whether their fathers will finally reconcile, is a teaser for the viewers to keep them tuned.
A long time has passed and Camillo wants to see the penitent King Leontes, but Polixenes does not want to let him go.
Polixenes
As thou lov’st me, Camillo, wipe not out the
rest of thy services by leaving me now. The need I
have of thee thine own goodness hath made. Better
not to have had thee than thus to want thee.
Prince Florizel is also a concern for both of them.
Camillo
Sir, it is three days since I saw the Prince.
What his happier affairs may be are to me unknown,
but I have missingly noted he is of late
much retired from court and is less frequent to his
princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
It's easy to guess that a young man "disappears" when he's taken in by the love of a pretty girl. This is where the happy tale begins.
Camillo
I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a
daughter of most rare note. The report of her is
extended more than can be thought to begin from
such a cottage.
Autolycus is a thief who carries out his thefts at fairs, his cover up is pretending to be a peddler. He is not treacherous, but cheerful, sings and is always in high spirits.
Autolycus
When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh, the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year,
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
With heigh, the sweet birds, O how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth an edge,
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
Autolycus meets the Clown, Perdita’s “brother”, who as suggested by his name is not very clever, and steals his purse.
The shepherd, Perdita’s “father” is throwing a Sheep-shearing feast: Prince Florizel is of course there to woo Perdita. She is somewhat startled by his position in society and fears that it may interfere with their love.
Perdita
Sir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me;
O, pardon that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o’ th’ land, you have obscured
With a swain’s wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,
Most goddesslike pranked up.
King Polixenes and Camillo also come to the feast to see how much the Prince is in love with his beloved.
Perdita presents the King with a bouquet of spring flowers:
Reverend Sirs,
For you there’s rosemary and rue. These keep
Seeming and savor all the winter long.
Perdita symbolizes spring with the splendor of the budding spring flowers that have bloomed for the celebration.
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one—O, these I lack
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o’er and o’er.
Autolycus sneaks into the crowd and advertises his goods with funny verses.
Autolycus
Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cypress black as e’er was crow,
Gloves as sweet as damask roses,
Masks for faces and for noses,
Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady’s chamber-
The clown is in love with the shepherdess Mopsa. He likes her so much that he buys her a song with an absurd content: about a girl who turned into a fish because she refused intimacy to the boy in love with her. This song is considered good because at least five judges were present at the event. At the insistence of Polixenes, a dance by satyrs is performed: this intensifies the atmosphere at the party. Polixenes and Camillo are disguised and Polixenes tricks Florizel into confessing his love for Perdita.
Florizel
And he, and more
Than he, and men—the Earth, the heavens, and
all—
That were I crowned the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge
More than was ever man’s, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all,
Commend them and condemn them to her service
Or to their own perdition.
These words infuriate Polixenes.
Polixenes
removing his disguise
Mark your divorce,
young sir,
Whom son I dare not call. Thou art too base
To be acknowledged. Thou a scepter’s heir
That thus affects a sheep-hook!—
The young, however, are determined to stay together, and they succeed much more than Romeo and Juliet. The young couple, following Camillo’s advice, run to Sicily and find protection at Leontes court.
After all these years, Leontes has completely repented for his inexplicable jealousy.
Leontes
Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself, which was so much
That heirless it hath made my kingdom and
Destroyed the sweet’st companion that e’er man
Bred his hopes out of.
Florizel presents Perdita as a Libyan princess, the daughter of King Smalus.
Leontes
What might I have been
Might I a son and daughter now have looked on,
Such goodly things as you?
Leontes is atoned for his sin for he really receives a new son and a daughter.
Polixenes and Camillo also arrive in Sicily, however Florizel is determined to fight for his love.
Florizel
to Perdita
Dear, look up.
Though Fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us with my father, power no jot
Hath she to change our loves.
The impostor Autolycus becomes the reason for the happy ending: he has brought the shepherd and his son to the ship on which Polixenes and Camillo sailed and has urged them to tell them about the jewels and gold with which Perdita was found.
From here on, the fairy-tale events unfold. Paulina takes everyone to her villa to show them the statue of Hermione, who seems almost alive, and so much like Perdita everyone is startled. And the statue comes to life, to prove that it is Hermione, who lived all those years here, in Pauline's villa. Of course, Leontes and Hermione get back together, but Leontes insists that his most loyal Paulina and Camillo also have personal happiness, suggesting that they two should marry.
Leontes
O peace, Paulina.
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife. This is a match,
And made between ’s 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—
For him, I partly know his mind—to find thee
An honorable husband.—Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.
