The Winter’s Tale

The Winter’s Tale, romantic tragicomedy by William Shakespeare that was probably written in 1611. The Winter’s Tale is based upon a pastoral romance, Pandosto, the Triumph of Time (1588) by Robert Greene. Shakespeare mainly followed the lines of the story, but he transformed it into a tragicomedy. The first three acts deal with the jealousy of King Leontes and his persecution of his queen, Hermione. His passion brings about her supposed death and the abandonment of her infant daughter. The fourth act, set 16 years later, relates the courtship of this daughter, Perdita, by Prince Florizel of Bohemia, and the flight of the young couple to the kingdom of Leontes. There, in the last act, Perdita is recognized as Leontes's lost child. To make his happiness complete, a statue of his queen comes to life, and Hermione herself forgives him and embraces Perdita.

Shakespeare added to his source a group of new characters—the outspoken Paulina, the clownish shepherd, and the rogue Autolycus—who give a background of realism to the romantic plot. In the fourth act Shakespeare substituted fresh and lively scenes from English country life for Greene's artificial pastoralism. The chief characters are sharply defined and truly human: Leontes is a realistic study of a man obsessed by jealousy; Hermione is among the most royal and most gracious of Shakespeare's noble ladies; and Perdita, given some of Shakespeare's loveliest lines, is one of his most charming young women. The poetry of The Winter's Tale has an extraordinary range and variety, from the tense, dramatic utterance of the trial scene to the songs and catches of Autolycus. Thus a play that opens on a tragic note comes to a happy ending.