The Winter's Tale opens at the Globe
By Grace Pippin
William Shakespeare does it again. The Winter's Tale opened at the Globe Theater on May 15, 1611, and is bound to be this season's hit.
Once again William Shakespeare takes his audience out of England and gives us a look at nobility in foreign lands. This time he provides us with bizarre intrigue at the courts of Sicilia and Bohemia. In this writer's opinion, The Winter's tale, is a must see. The plot pattern of the play runs through a series of destructive catastrophes and culminates in joyful regeneration. This Winter tale, or sad tale, will moisten your eyes until the final scene in Act V, when all is neatly resolved and the joy of Spring is realized.
Polixenes, king of Bohemia pays a nine month visit to his dearest childhood friend Leontes, king of Sicilia. Leontes falsely accuses his queen, Hermione of adultery with Polixenes. Leontes commands, his most trusted councilor, Camillo, who serves as cupbearer for the visiting Polixenes, to poison his drink. Camillo warns Polixenes and flees with him to Bohemia. Leontes, taking their flight as proof of guilt, imprisons his pregnant queen. Hermione delivers the child prematurely in prison and names the infant Perdita, a name meaning totally lost or destroyed. Paulina, the outspoken wife of Antigonus, and handmaid to the queen, presents the infant to the king, for sympathy, but is expelled from court leaving the infant behind. The king commands Antigonus to dispose of the bastard child.
Sympathetic to the infant's true identity, Antigonus sails for Bohemia, a safe haven for Perdita. Immediately, he is killed by a bear. The infant is discovered by an old shepherd on the barren coast of Bohemia, and taken into his home. In the meantime, Leontes' young son, Mamillius, the heir to the throne dies. What is more, the king is told, by Paulina, that the queen has died in prison. Leontes, crippled by grief and guilt, reveals everything. For the remainder of the play Paulina, Hermione's maid and loyal friend, serves as conscience to the king, taking every opportunity to fan the fires of his guilt.
Sixteen years go by, and Perdita is becoming a strong and lovely woman, with characteristics similar to her honorable mother, Hermione. She is being courted by Florizel, the son of Polixenes. When Polixenes makes this discovery, the couple is forced to flee. Camillo, who is homesick, assists their escape to Sicilia. The frightened shepherd, fearing the wrath of Polixenes, shows him the articles, even the baby clothes, found with Perdita sixteen years earlier. Polixenes, realizing that Perdita is the child of Hermione, now approves Florizel's choice. Finally, Paulina stages a climactic surprise by unveiling a statue of Hermione, for Leontes, Perdita and all to see. The statue is the queen herself, hidden away in seclusion for sixteen years.