The Winter’s Tale Act 5 Summary

The Winter’s Tale Act 5, Scene 1 Summary • At Leontes's palace in Sicily, Cleomenes begs Leontes to stop punishing himself for his past sins and to forgive himself. (Apparently, Leontes has been quite penitent for the past sixteen years.) • Leontes replies that he can’t forgive himself for what he did to Hermione and the kingdom – it’s all his fault that his wife is dead and Sicily no longer has an heir to the throne (Mammilius is dead and Leontes basically threw away his baby daughter). • Paulina steps up and sweetly reminds Leontes that he’s responsible for killing the perfect woman and warns him that he shouldn’t bother trying to find a new wife, since no woman can ever be as great as Hermione. • Leontes sincerely thanks Paulina for reminding him that he basically “killed” Hermione by putting her on trial for adultery. Cleomenes grumbles that Paulina is being cruel and he sort of has a point, wouldn’t you say? • Paulina bickers with Dion about whether or not Leontes should remarry – Dion points out that Sicily is without an heir and the fate of the kingdom is in jeopardy. • Then Paulina plays the Apollo card, pointing out that Apollo’s Oracle said that Leontes wouldn’t have an heir until his lost child (Perdita) was found. • Leontes laments that he didn’t listen to Paulina’s wise counsel back when she warned him not to try Hermione for adultery and treason. • Leontes resolves not to remarry and says that if he got a new wife and treated her well, Hermione’s corpse would come back to life and ask why Leontes treated her like dirt. Plus, Hermione’s reanimated corpse would probably order him to murder his new wife, so remarriage doesn’t seem like such a great idea. • Paulina agrees and says that if she were Hermione, she would totally come back from the dead and haunt Leontes. • Paulina makes Leontes swear that if he does remarry, his bride must look like Hermione and Paulina gets to choose her. But, she says, that won’t happen unless Hermione somehow manages to live again. • A servant enters and announces Prince Florizel’s arrival at the Sicilian court with his “princess” (that would be Perdita) in tow. • Leontes is baffled and wonders why Florizel has shown up on his doorstep without advance notice. Something must be wrong, otherwise Florizel would have arrived with more pomp and circumstance (and perhaps a letter from his father, Polixenes). • When the Servant says that Florizel’s princess is a beauty, Paulina gets all huffy and says something like “nobody’s as beautiful as Hermione was.” • Then Paulina points out that, if Mammilius had lived, he probably would have been happy to see Prince Florizel, since the two princes were born about a month apart. • Leontes begs Paulina to stop reminding him of Mammilius’s death – every time she mentions it, it feels like Mammilius has died all over again. • Florizel and Perdita enter and Leontes comments that Florizel’s mom did a good job making him, because the prince looks exactly like a “copy” of his father, Polixenes. Leontes looks at Perdita and proclaims that she’s a “goddess.” • Florizel lies and says that his father sends Leontes his best regards and wishes he could see his old friend. • Upon hearing this, Leontes beats himself up for being such a lousy friend to Polixenes (i.e., accusing him of sleeping with his wife and plotting to poison him). • Florizel lies some more and says he picked up his “bride” in Libya before sailing to Sicily. Ordinarily, he would have brought a huge entourage along with him but he decided to let them sail home to Bohemia to give Polixenes the good news. • Leontes announces that Florizel’s presence in Sicily is like a cure for sickness and says he wishes he had a son or daughter like Polixenes has. (Yep, that’s ironic all right, especially since Leontes's daughter Perdita is standing right in front of him.) • Then a Lord enters and rains on everybody’s parade by announcing that King Polixenes has sent word that Leontes should arrest Prince Florizel for running away from home with a lowly shepherd’s daughter. • The Lord also says that Polixenes has just arrived in Sicily to accost his naughty son. Not only that, but on his way to the Sicilian court, he ran into the Old Shepherd and the Clown, who are crying like babies and begging for their lives. • Florizel realizes Camillo has betrayed him and he’s not too happy. • Perdita cries for the poor Old Shepherd and boo-hoos that her marriage celebration is going to have to wait. • Florizel begs Leontes to speak to his father on his behalf – he loves Perdita and wants to spend his life with her. • Paulina takes the opportunity to remind everyone, again, that Perdita isn’t nearly as good-looking as Hermione once was. • Leontes admits that looking at Perdita actually reminds him of his late wife. He says he’s happy to talk to Polixenes on behalf of the young couple. The Winter’s Tale Act 5, Scene 2 Summary • Somewhere in Leontes's castle, Autolycus speaks with some gentlemen of the court. It seems that, off-stage, the Old Shepherd managed to have a conference with King Leontes, where the shepherd revealed proof that Perdita is not his biological daughter. (Remember, back in Act 3, Scene 3, Antigonus left a document of Perdita’s heritage and some gold when he abandoned her on the Bohemian coast.) • One of the Gentlemen reports that Leontes and Camillo seemed awestruck, but he couldn’t tell if they were full of “joy” or “sorrow” because everyone was ushered out of the room before he could get any more details. • A Second Gentleman enters the room and announces that Leontes's daughter “has been found” just as the Oracle predicted. Yippee! He also points out how the events that have recently unfolded seem like an old, made-up “tale,” which is Shakespeare’s way of acknowledging the implausibility of the events in his play. • A Third Gentleman rushes in and says the Old Shepherd revealed a letter denoting Perdita’s heritage, Queen Hermione’s jewels, and some other things that verify Perdita’s status as Leontes's child. • King Leontes was also reunited with his old BFF, Polixenes, and sobbed because he was so overjoyed. • When asked about what happened to Antigonus, the Third Gentleman says that, sadly, he was ripped to shreds by a bear. At the same moment the bear made a snack out of Antigonus, the ship he sailed to Bohemia on sank. Paulina was totally bummed about her husband being bear food, but was psyched that Hermione’s daughter had been found. • We also learn that, when Perdita found out about her mother’s death, she seemed to cry tears of blood. The reunion was so moving that onlookers sobbed and fainted dramatically. • The Third Gentleman also reports that, when the princess found out that the famous artist Giulio Romano completed a lifelike statue of Hermione, Perdita rushed to Paulina’s house to see it. • The Gentleman run off to see the statue, leaving Autolycus on stage to lament that he wasn’t the one to reveal Perdita’s true identity to King Leontes. • The Old Shepherd and the Clown enter the stage dressed to the nines in some new threads befitting gentlemen. • The Clown brags to Autolycus that he’s a “gentleman born” because the Prince called him “brother” and said they were all one big happy family. (FYI – this is a big joke since the Clown was obviously not “born” a gentleman.) • The Clown and the Old Shepherd decide they should behave in a “gentlemanly” manner and agree to put in a good word to the king on behalf of Autolycus. • Autolycus promises he’ll try to be a better person (instead of a thief) and the three men run off to see the statue of Hermione. The Winter’s Tale Act 5, Scene 3 Summary • Paulina welcomes Leontes and his friends and family to her home for the big unveiling of the Hermione statue. • Paulina, who has invited a huge crowd too see the statue of Hermione, proclaims that the statue is so lifelike that she keeps it separate from the rest of her art collection. • Then Paulina draws a curtain to reveal the figure of Hermione. • Leontes says something like “Gosh, it sure looks like Hermione but it also looks a lot older than she was when she died – the statue sure does have a lot of wrinkles.” • Paulina says that’s because the artist is so talented – he sculpted the figure based on what Hermione would have looked like today if she had been alive for the past sixteen years. • Leontes admires the “warmth” of the statue and chides himself for being such a rotten husband to Hermione. • Perdita gets down on her knees and asks the statue to bless her. • Just as Perdita reaches out to kiss the hand of the statue, Paulina yells out for her to stop – the paint’s barely dry on the statue for goodness sake. • Camillo and Polixenes look over and see that Leontes is in pain – they urge him not to keep beating himself up over his wife’s death. Paulina chimes in that, if she knew the statue would have made Leontes so upset, she never would have shown it. (Yeah right. Paulina is all about making Leontes suffer.) • Paulina makes like she’s going to close the curtain and Leontes begs her not to – he wants to keep gazing on the statue. Paulina says OK, but if you stare too long you might begin to think the statue is alive. • Leontes and Polixenes note the statue’s lifelike appearance – it looks as though the statue is breathing and that there’s real blood moving through its veins. • Then Leontes says holy cow, it looks like one of the eyes is moving! • Paulina and Leontes discuss how looking on the statue is both painful and pleasurable. • Leontes decides he’s going to plant a big kiss on the statue’s lips and Paulina tells him to back off or he’ll get wet paint on his mouth. • Then Paulina says she bets she can convince everyone the statue’s real but they might accuse her of using “wicked” magic. In order for the trick to work, everyone in the room must “awake[n]” their “faith.” • Paulina calls for some dramatic music and says “Tis time. Descend. Be stone no more.” • Suddenly, Hermione, who is very much alive, descends from the pedestal while Paulina commands an astonished Leontes to embrace his wife. • [Note: It’s not entirely clear if Hermione is miraculously brought back from the dead or if she’s been alive the whole time. Some critics argue that Hermione is resurrected in the style of Christ. Others say there’s evidence in the play that Paulina just hid Hermione away 1) so that Leontes wouldn’t hurt her and 2) to teach Leontes a lesson.] • Leontes shouts oh my gosh – her body’s “warm”! The crowd is utterly shocked at what’s just happened. • Then Paulina tells Perdita to kneel before her mother and receive her “blessing.” • Finally, Hermione speaks – she asks the gods to bless her daughter and begins to question Perdita about where’s she’s been for the past sixteen years. • Paulina says hold on folks, there’s plenty of time for Perdita to tell that story later. (Thank goodness, because we’ve already heard that tale, twice.) For now, family and friends should celebrate the miraculous reunion. • Leontes promises Paulina that he’ll find her a man to marry before he realizes that, hey, it seems pretty impossible for Hermione to have come back to life – after all, he saw her dead body and spent hours praying at her grave. • First things first, though. Leontes declares that Camillo and Paulina should get hitched. After that, there’ll be plenty of time to hash out all of these impossible questions. • Paulina leads the party away and they all live happily ever after (except for Mammilius, who died when his father tried his mother for adultery and Antigonus, who was eaten by a bear).