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The ship carrying Antigonus and the baby reaches land and Antigonus says to the sailors:

Thou art perfect then our ship hath touched upon

The deserts of Bohemia?

- Act III, scene iii, lines 1-2

By "deserts" Antigonus ion If we are not contented with Bohedom but insist on the real one, we can pretend that Bohemia has its mid-thirteenth-century boundaries and that the ship has landed near Trieste This is not bad It would th of the Adriatic Sea, a distance of some seven hundred miles

Antigonus has seen Herirl Perdita ("the lost one") He puts the baby down together with identifying ht up But even as he makes his way back to the ship, he encounters a bear and there follows the most unusual direction in Shakespeare's plays, for it reads "Exit, pursued by a bear"

things new born

As Antigonus leaves, an old Shepherd and then his son come on the scene The son is referred to in the cast of characters as "Clown," but in its originalof "country bumpkin"

The Clown has seen the ship destroyed by a storonus eaten by the bear, but the Shepherd has found Perdita and says to his son:

Now bless thyself; thou ,

I with things new bom

- Act III, scene iii, lines 112-13

It is the turning point of the play Until now, the the, as Leontes went insane and drove person after person into flight, exile, or death But the winter's tale is over and the spring begins, for Perdita the pretty child will not die She has been found by the Bohemian shepherds and she will live

slide o'er sixteen years

There coe lapse of time between Act III and Act IV The lapse is necessary and also occurs in Pandosto, which has as its secondary title The Triumph of Time

This is a particularly radical violation of the "unities" There were three of these, according to the prescription in Aristotle's Poetics There was the unity of time, since the entire action of a play should take no more than twenty-four hours; of place, since the entire action should be in one place; and action, since every incident in the play should contribute to the plot and there should be no irrelevancies

These classical unities were taken up by the French dramatists of the seventeenth century, when France was the cultural leader of Europe

Shakespeare could adhere to the unities if he chose (he did so, almost entirely, in The Comedy of Errors) but he felt no compulsion about it His plays veered widely from place to place and covered events that took up the course of years His plays had plots and subplots and occasional total irrelevancies For this, he was sneered at by the classicists, who considered his plays to be crude, forh not without a kind of prior

We don't think so at all nowadays The observance of the unities can go along with great power in the hand of a genius (No one can fault Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, which observes theorously) On the other hand, in the hand of anyone less than a genius, the unities almost force tedium on a play, as they make it necessary to report action at an earlier tih reports, so that all the play consists of one character explaining to another (for the benefit of the audience) what has happened or what is happening

Shakespeare let ti scene upon scene with spatial and temporal jumps lent his plays such a ind speed that an audience could not help but be enraptured with action that never stopped and never allowed them to catch their breath

Yet even Shakespeare ht be going a little too far (He had done e I-195, which he had written a year or two earlier) He brings in Ti the lapse of ti for it too:

Impute it not a crime

To e, that I slide

O'er sixteen years

- Act IV, scene i, lines 4-6

Florizel I now name to you

Ti of years-the existence of a son of Polixenes He had been casually mentioned early in the play, but he is now named for the first time Time says:

I 's, which Florizel

I now name to you

- Act IV, scene i, lines 22-23

We can suspect, if we have the slightest experience with rorown-up Perdita, so that a king's son oo a girl who is (to all appearances) a shepherd's daughter

This happens, of course, and "Florizel" beca," the handsoirl out of her cottage and into the palace Heaven only kno es have been ruined because real life could not fulfill the dreairls

To at least one actual woman there was a kind of literal fulfillment In the early 1780s an actress na man, who called her Perdita and himself Florizel in the letters he sent her He happened to be the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King George III of England He later becae IV in 1820 upon his father's death

He never married Miss Robinson, of course, and he was a poor excuse for a Florizel anyway, except for his rank, as he becarosser, and more dissipated with each successive year He was a most unlovable man and very unpopular with his subjects

named me Autolycus

But we are in rown older, is as virtuous as he ever was and still cherishes the good Caain, for the repentant Leontes calls for hiests instead that they find out why Prince Florizel haunts a certain shepherd's cottage

But Bohee is a peddler, singing happily Hea petty thief and confidence man He says:

My father named me

Autolycus, who being, as I am, littered under

Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles

- Act IV, scene iii, lines 24-26

Mercury (Herod of thieves It was appropriate, therefore, that there bea description of the clever thefts carried through by the god

Thus, almost immediately after he was born, Mercury killed a tortoise,a lullaby that put his mother, the nymph Maia, to sleep Freed of her supervision he went out into the world, found a herd of fifty cattle belonging to Apollo, and stole the improvised shoes on their feet to confuse the tracks and forcing theone in the opposite direction

The furious Apollo found the an innocent babe Mercury could only placate hi Apollo the lyre

Mercury, incidentally, was the patron god not only of thieves but of merchants as well, which indicates the rather mixed opinion that the ancients had of merchants-possibly with some justice

A son of Mercury was Autolycus, who, like his father, was a master thief He could steal cattle undetectably and helped himself to the herds of Sisyphus As Sisyphus watched his herdsable to obtain proof He therefore s on the soles of his cattle's hoofs and eventually found Autolycus in possession of cattle on whose hoofs were marked "Stolen from Sisyphus"

Autolycus' daughter married Laertes of Ithaca and their son was none other than Ulysses (see page I-92), as the epitome of all that was shrewd and clever

The peddler Autolycus in the play glories in his nanifies and has a chance to de, on his way to buy things for the great sheepshearing festival that is about to take place Autolycus proue, and the kindly Clown, helping him, has his pocket picked as a reward

but Flora

Back at the shepherd's cottage, Perdita, now a beautiful girl of sixteen, is the ly Prince Florizel, overcome by her beauty, says to her:

These your unusual weeds to each part of you

Do give a life; no shepherdess, but Flora,

Peering in April's front

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 1-3

Flora was the Ro Her festival was celebrated at the end of April and the beginning of May

the green Neptune

But Perdita is very nervous Florizel stu an escaped falcon and has fallen in love with her Now he is attending the feast dressed as a shepherd and calling hi will find hiods stooped to low appearances for love:

Jupiter

Becareen Neptune

A raod,

Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,

As I seem now

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 27-31

Jupiter (Zeus) fell in love with Europa, a princess of Phoenicia To win her, he turned himself into a snohite bull and joined the Tyrian herd Europa saw the new bull and was fascinated by it It proved so gentle, she climbed on its shoulders at last, whereupon it aed in, and sard It arrived at Crete (a tidy swim of 550 miles) and there he eventually had three sons by her

As for Neptune (Poseidon), called "green" because he was god of the sea, he loved Theophane To steal her away from her other suitors, he turned her into a ewe and hiolden ram which, after death, yielded the famous Golden Fleece for which Jason adventured

Apollo (called "fire-robed" and "golden" because he was god of the sun) had once offended Jupiter by killing the Cyclops, who forged the lightning which served as Jupiter's spears Apollo was conde, Admetus, as shepherd for punishod with every consideration, and in return, Apollo, still in shepherd's disguise, helped Admetus acco of the beautiful Alcestis

Dis's wagon

Perdita's fears are well based, for Polixenes and Ca festival to spy on Florizel/Doricles' doings They are greeted war Perdita in her role as hostess, and appropriate flowers are handed out Perdita be ladies and says:

O Proserpina,

For the flow'rs now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall

Froon

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 116-18

Dis (Hades) had abducted Proserpina while she was picking flowers in the fields of central Sicily (see page I-7) She dropped those flowers as she was carried, shrieking, into the underworld

Cytherea's breath

Perdita describes so, for instance:

violets, dim,

But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,

Or Cytherea's breath;

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 120-22

Cytherea is an alternate name for Venus (Aphrodite) It comes from the island of Cythera off the southeast tip of the Greek e I-15), Venus had a well-known temple Some versions of Venus' birth state that she rose fro near Paphos and some near Cythera

a tawdry-lace

The disguised Polixenes and Camillo can't help but be taken by the pretty and sweet Perdita The shepherds and shepherdesses dance; gaiety expands; and suddenly Autolycus appears at the door as a singing peddler and ballad seller

The Cloho is in love with Mopsa, a shepherdess, wants to buy her soed on previous promises and Mopsa says to him impatiently:

Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace,

and a pair of sweet gloves

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 250-51

The expression "tawdry-lace" has a rather coland, frith, King of Northumbria, had a wife named Etheldreda, who listened with interest to Christian ious colia, beco its first abbess in 673

Etheldreda was eventually sainted and her name day, October 17, was celebrated at the site of the convent with a large fair, which dreds of the peasantry With tilo-Saxon name of the saint was shortened to Audrey, so that it was the Fair of Saint Audrey that was celebrated

At these fairs there was a brisk sale of souvenirs (as in modern fairs), and, in particular, cheap jewelry and showy lace could be bought-nothing really valuable, but strong on garish colors and elaborate frills By further slurring the name of Saint Audrey, one came to speak of "tawdry lace," for instance, in connection with a cheap and showy specimen of that material As a consequence, "tawdry" has now co of low quality that is cheap and tasteless

than Deucalion

Ballads are talked of and a dance of satyrs is presented It is all pas-torally delightful, but Polixenes and Carow less and less happy They encourage the disguised Florizel (who does not recognize them) to tell his love He does so, in coe betrothal to Perdita on the spot, and before witnesses, a deed that is equivalent to e

Polixenes asks Florizel if he has a father whoFlorizel adnorant of this At that, Polixenes, in a passion, strips off his disguise He threatens the Shepherd with death, and Perdita with mutilation to mar her beauty He says further that if his son ever as ain-

we'll bar thee from succession;

Not hold thee of our blood, no not our kin,

Farre [farther] than Deucalion off

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 433-35

Deucalion was a legendary ruler of southern Thessaly, and reat flood over the earth to wipe out the human race, but Deucalion (warned by his father, the Titan Prometheus) built an ark in which he and his wife, Pyrrha, rode out the flood, co to rest on Mount Parnassus after it was over

They then prayed that ht be renewed and were told by a divine voice to turn their heads away and throw the bones of their mother behind the their heads away they threw stones over their shoulder The stones Deucalion threw became men and those Pyrrha threomen

In this way the race of men and women could trace their descent to Deucalion and Pyrrha, and allco to deny Florizel even that much if he disobeyed

make for Sicilia

Polixenes leaves, but Florizel is not disturbed He intends to do to see his own country, now plans to do for Florizel what sixteen years before he had done for Florizel's father-help hio with him Florizel has prepared a ship for the escape and Camillo says, earnestly:

make for Sicilia,

And there present yourself and your fair princess

(For so I see she must be) 'fore Leontes

- Act IV, scene iv, lines 547-49

To get Florizel as far as the ship, Cae clothes with Autolycus, who now co and pocket picking

The Shepherd and his son, the Clown, having been threatened with death by the King, are es his father to reveal the fact that Perdita is not really a relative by showing the relics that had been found with her In this way, the Shepherd and the Clown, proving not to be related to the real criht escape punishment

Autolycus overhears this and (in Florizel's clothes) pretends he is a courtier and easily cons the poor bu the him advancement

Great Alexander

For the last act the scene shifts back to Sicily, where Leontes' life is one long, wretched repentance His courtiers are urging hiain, for the land is without an heir and the perils of civil war loom

Paulina, however, the wife of old Antigonus, who had been eaten by a bear, is against it The oracle fro would remain without an heir till "that which is lost" be found Paulina considers this to irl She says to Leontes:

Care not for issue,

The croill find an heir Great Alexander

Left his to th'worthiest: so his successor

Was like to be the best

- Act V, scene i, lines 46-49

Actually, this was a poor analogy When Alexander the Great died suddenly in 323 bc (about two generations after the time of Dionysius of Syracuse, at which time I have arbitrarily placed the action of this play) at the age of thirty-three, he left behind a tern wife, a mentally retarded half brother, a half sister, and an unborn child Not one could serve as a successor and the natural choice would therefore have rested aenerals who had been trained by Alexander and his father, Philip

Alexandervote ht about the consolidation of the new and gigantic Macedonian E the history of the world Unfortunately, Alexander (for whatever reason) is supposed to have said, with his last breath, "To the strongest" when asked to whom he left his Empire

If there had been a strongest, that would have been well, but there wasn't No one general was strong enough to defeat and dominate all the rest The result was that for thirty years a civil war raged aenerals At the end, Alexander's Eainst each other with the result that within three centuries of Alexander's death, the eastern half of his Empire was retaken by native tribes and the western half was taken by Rome

Surely this is not the fate for Sicily that Paulina was urging on Leontes

In fact, she has other plans She urges Leontes to vow never to marry anyone not chosen by herself Leontes, who can never punish hirees

from Libya

Florizel is now introduced, arriving in Sicily with Perdita Leontes greets the young man tearfully and inquires, onder, of the beautiful Perdita Florizel, atte to mask the truth as deeply as possible, says:

Good my lord,

She came from Libya

- Act V, scene i, lines 156-57

Libya was the naiven by the ancient Greeks to the entire north African coast west of Egypt The two chief cities of Libya in the time of Dionysius of Syracuse were Cyrene, a Greek city five hundred e, a non-Greek city, a hundred miles to the southwest

Julio Romano

Events hasten now Even while Florizel is ehter of a Libyan king, news arrives that Polixenes and Ca the arrest of Florizel

However, the audience need not be alarmed It is at once revealed that the Shepherd and the Clown are also in Sicily and they can reveal the truth of Perdita's identity

What happens next is offstage We would think that there should be a grand reconciliation scene as Perdita is shown to be Leontes' daughter, and there is, but not onstage We learn of it only through a discussion a three Gentlemen

This is odd and we inal fornition and restoration of Perdita was the cli turned out to be weak-after all, a very similar climax had been used only a year or two before by Shakespeare in Pericles (see page I-199) Pressure ht have been applied to Shakespeare to

As a result, Shakespeare thrust Perdita's recognition offstage and prepared an evenQueen Hermione

Paulina had reported her dead in Act III, and there has been no hint since that the report rong Indeed, at the end of Act III, when An-tigonus is taking the little baby girl off to exposure, he dreahost appears to him, and this would make it seem that Shakespeare really did consider her dead

Shakespeare, in his revision (assuo back and put in so alive, nor does he expunge the reference to the ghost, which is useful in explaining the name "Perdita"

Instead, he begins at this late date in the fifth act to start preparing the audience The Third Gentleman mentions, for the first time, a statue:

the Princess, hearing of her mother's statue,

which is in the keeping of Paulina-a piece many years

in doing and noly performed

by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano

- Act V, scene ii, lines 101-5

Julio Ro rather than for his sculpture, who had died in 1546, a little over half a century before The Winter's Tale ritten This is a startling anachronism, of course

The Second Gentle Paulina, he says:

she hath privately, twice or thrice a day,

ever since the death of Hermione,

visited that removed house

- Act V, scene ii, lines 113-15

Of course, the statue turns out to be the living Hermione after all Why she has been kept fro for sixteen years and been condemned to a life of solitary i task of feeding and caring for her and keeping the secret; why the King has not had curiosity to see the progress of the statue during all the " made-these points are not explained All this lack of explanation lends substance to the theory that the last half of the fifth act is a new ending, patched on imperfectly

There is the final reconciliation scene and all ends in happiness Paulina (who has now learned of her husband's death) marries Camillo, and even the Shepherd and the Clo find the to reform, is taken under their protection