Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Hermione, Mamillius, and Ladies. HERMIONE
Take the boy to you. He so troubles me
’Tis past enduring. FIRST LADY Come, my gracious lord,
Shall I be your playfellow? MAMILLIUS
No, I’ll none of you. 5 FIRST LADY Why, my sweet lord? MAMILLIUS
You’ll kiss me hard and speak to me as if
I were a baby still.—I love you better. SECOND LADY
And why so, my lord? | Meanwhile, Hermione hangs out with her Ladies in waiting and her young son, Mamillius.
Hermione asks her Ladies to entertain her precocious boy (he’s really cute but also a little out of control, so mommy needs a break). Mamillius says he doesn’t want to play with the First Lady because she’s always kissing him and treating him like a baby. Mamillius replies that he loves the Second Lady better. |
MAMILLIUS Not for because 10
Your brows are blacker—yet black brows, they say,
Become some women best, so that there be not
Too much hair there, but in a semicircle,
Or a half-moon made with a pen. SECOND LADY Who taught this? 15 MAMILLIUS
I learned it out of women’s faces.—Pray now,
What color are your eyebrows? FIRST LADY Blue, my lord. MAMILLIUS
Nay, that’s a mock. I have seen a lady’s nose
That has been blue, but not her eyebrows. 20 FIRST LADY Hark ye,
The Queen your mother rounds apace. We shall
Present our services to a fine new prince
One of these days, and then you’d wanton with us
If we would have you. 25 SECOND LADY She is spread of late
Into a goodly bulk. Good time encounter her! HERMIONE
What wisdom stirs amongst you?—Come, sir, now
I am for you again. Pray you sit by us,
And tell ’s a tale. 30 MAMILLIUS Merry or sad shall ’t be? HERMIONE As merry as you will. MAMILLIUS
A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one
Of sprites and goblins. | After the Ladies banter and play with Mamillius for a bit, Hermione asks
her son to tell a nice story. Mamillius obliges and says he knows “sad”
story about goblins that’s just perfect for “winter” time. (Yep, that’s
a reference to the play’s title all right.) |
HERMIONE Let’s have that, good sir. 35
Come on, sit down. Come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprites. You’re powerful at it. MAMILLIUS
There was a man— HERMIONE Nay, come sit down, then on. MAMILLIUS
Dwelt by a churchyard. I will tell it softly, 40
Yond crickets shall not hear it. HERMIONE
Come on then, and give ’t me in mine ear. They talk privately. | Mamillius whispers the story into his mother’s ear. |
Enter Leontes, Antigonus, and Lords. LEONTES
Was he met there? His train? Camillo with him? LORD
Behind the tuft of pines I met them. Never
Saw I men scour so on their way. I eyed them 45
Even to their ships. LEONTES How blest am I
In my just censure, in my true opinion!
Alack, for lesser knowledge! How accursed
In being so blest! There may be in the cup 50
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, 55
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.
All’s true that is mistrusted. That false villain
Whom I employed was pre-employed by him. 60
He has discovered my design, and I
Remain a pinched thing, yea, a very trick
For them to play at will. How came the posterns
So easily open? LORD By his great authority, 65
Which often hath no less prevailed than so
On your command. | Meanwhile, Leontes walks on stage with Antigonus and some other Sicilian
Lords. Leontes is all riled up because Polixenes has escaped Sicily
with Camillo in tow. Leontes is convinced that Polixenes and Camillo are
plotting against his life and have been in cahoots for quite some time. |
LEONTES I know ’t too well.
To Hermione. Give me the boy. I am glad you did
not nurse him. 70
Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you
Have too much blood in him. HERMIONE What is this? Sport? LEONTES, to the Ladies
Bear the boy hence. He shall not come about her.
Away with him, and let her sport herself 75
With that she’s big with, (to Hermione) for ’tis
Polixenes
Has made thee swell thus. A Lady exits with Mamillius. | Leontes turns to Hermione and says he’s glad Hermione never breast fed their son (apparently, Mamillius had a wet-nurse) because Mamillius is already way too much like his mother. (History Snack: In Shakespeare’s time, women who breastfed infants were thought to have transmitted their personal traits and characteristics to children through breast milk. Apparently, Mamillius, had a wet-nurse, which was pretty common among royalty and nobility in Shakespeare’s day.) Hermione says something like “You’ve got to be joking” and Leontes orders Mamillius to be taken away from his mother and accuses the pregnant Hermione of carrying Polixenes’ baby. |
HERMIONE But I’d say he had not,
And I’ll be sworn you would believe my saying, 80
Howe’er you lean to th’ nayward. LEONTES You, my lords,
Look on her, mark her well. Be but about
To say “She is a goodly lady,” and
The justice of your hearts will thereto add 85
“’Tis pity she’s not honest, honorable.”
Praise her but for this her without-door form,
Which on my faith deserves high speech, and
straight
The shrug, the “hum,” or “ha,” these petty brands 90
That calumny doth use—O, I am out,
That mercy does, for calumny will sear
Virtue itself—these shrugs, these “hum”s and “ha”s,
When you have said she’s goodly, come between
Ere you can say she’s honest. But be ’t known, 95
From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,
She’s an adult’ress. HERMIONE Should a villain say so,
The most replenished villain in the world,
He were as much more villain. You, my lord, 100
Do but mistake. | Hermione denies Leontes's charges of adultery, says only a total jerk
would accuse her of such a thing, and tells her husband that he’s making
a huge mistake. |
LEONTES You have mistook, my lady,
Polixenes for Leontes. O thou thing,
Which I’ll not call a creature of thy place
Lest barbarism, making me the precedent, 105
Should a like language use to all degrees,
And mannerly distinguishment leave out
Betwixt the prince and beggar.—I have said
She’s an adult’ress; I have said with whom.
More, she’s a traitor, and Camillo is 110
A federary with her, and one that knows
What she should shame to know herself
But with her most vile principal: that she’s
A bed-swerver, even as bad as those
That vulgars give bold’st titles; ay, and privy 115
To this their late escape. HERMIONE No, by my life,
Privy to none of this. How will this grieve you,
When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that
You thus have published me! Gentle my lord, 120
You scarce can right me throughly then to say
You did mistake. | Leontes repeats his accusation of adultery and says Hermione is a traitor, along with Polixenes and Camillo. Hermione says Leontes will be sorry when he realizes his mistake and says he owes her an apology. |
LEONTES No. If I mistake
In those foundations which I build upon,
The center is not big enough to bear 125
A schoolboy’s top.—Away with her to prison.
He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty
But that he speaks. HERMIONE There’s some ill planet reigns.
I must be patient till the heavens look 130
With an aspect more favorable. Good my lords,
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are, the want of which vain dew
Perchance shall dry your pities. But I have
That honorable grief lodged here which burns 135
Worse than tears drown. Beseech you all, my lords,
With thoughts so qualified as your charities
Shall best instruct you, measure me; and so
The King’s will be performed. LEONTES Shall I be heard? 140 HERMIONE
Who is ’t that goes with me? Beseech your Highness
My women may be with me, for you see
My plight requires it.—Do not weep, good fools;
There is no cause. When you shall know your
mistress 145
Has deserved prison, then abound in tears
As I come out. This action I now go on
Is for my better grace.—Adieu, my lord.
I never wished to see you sorry; now
I trust I shall.—My women, come; you have leave. 150 LEONTES Go, do our bidding. Hence! Hermione exits, under guard, with her Ladies. | Leontes orders Hermione away to prison. Then Hermione blames her husband’s behavior on the alignment of the planets. Hermione declares her heart is heavy with grief and begs to be allowed to have her Ladies with her while she’s in jail. |
LORD
Beseech your Highness, call the Queen again. ANTIGONUS
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:
Yourself, your queen, your son. 155 LORD For her, my lord,
I dare my life lay down—and will do ’t, sir,
Please you t’ accept it—that the Queen is spotless
I’ th’ eyes of heaven, and to you—I mean
In this which you accuse her. 160 ANTIGONUS If it prove
She’s otherwise, I’ll keep my stables where
I lodge my wife. I’ll go in couples with her;
Than when I feel and see her, no farther trust her.
For every inch of woman in the world, 165
Ay, every dram of woman’s flesh, is false,
If she be. LEONTES Hold your peaces. LORD Good my lord— ANTIGONUS
It is for you we speak, not for ourselves. 170
You are abused, and by some putter-on
That will be damned for ’t. Would I knew the
villain!
I would land-damn him. Be she honor-flawed,
I have three daughters—the eldest is eleven; 175
The second and the third, nine and some five;
If this prove true, they’ll pay for ’t. By mine honor,
I’ll geld ’em all; fourteen they shall not see
To bring false generations. They are co-heirs,
And I had rather glib myself than they 180
Should not produce fair issue. | After Hermione is carted off to the slammer, Antigonus and a Lord try to convince Leontes that he’s making a big mistake. Antigonus says he’s so sure Hermione is innocent that he’d cut out his own daughters’ wombs if it turned out that Hermione was having an affair. Antigonus, who is kind of off on a weird tangent, says he’d castrate himself if it turned out that one of his own daughters turned out to be sexually promiscuous. (Yikes! Antigonus is suggesting that, if Hermione is a floozy, then all women, including his own daughters, are promiscuous too. Check out “Gender” if you want to know more.) |
LEONTES Cease. No more.
You smell this business with a sense as cold
As is a dead man’s nose. But I do see ’t and feel ’t,
As you feel doing thus, and see withal 185
The instruments that feel. ANTIGONUS If it be so,
We need no grave to bury honesty.
There’s not a grain of it the face to sweeten
Of the whole dungy Earth. 190 LEONTES What? Lack I credit? LORD
I had rather you did lack than I, my lord,
Upon this ground. And more it would content me
To have her honor true than your suspicion,
Be blamed for ’t how you might. 195 LEONTES Why, what need we
Commune with you of this, but rather follow
Our forceful instigation? Our prerogative
Calls not your counsels, but our natural goodness
Imparts this, which if you—or stupefied 200
Or seeming so in skill—cannot or will not
Relish a truth like us, inform yourselves
We need no more of your advice. The matter,
The loss, the gain, the ord’ring on ’t is all
Properly ours. 205 | Leontes tells his men to pipe down – if they’re too stupid to realize
that Hermione is an adulteress, he no longer needs their services. |
ANTIGONUS And I wish, my liege,
You had only in your silent judgment tried it,
Without more overture. LEONTES How could that be?
Either thou art most ignorant by age, 210
Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo’s flight,
Added to their familiarity—
Which was as gross as ever touched conjecture,
That lacked sight only, naught for approbation
But only seeing, all other circumstances 215
Made up to th’ deed—doth push on this
proceeding.
Yet, for a greater confirmation—
For in an act of this importance ’twere
Most piteous to be wild—I have dispatched in post 220
To sacred Delphos, to Apollo’s temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know
Of stuffed sufficiency. Now from the oracle
They will bring all, whose spiritual counsel had
Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well? 225 LORD Well done,
my lord. LEONTES
Though I am satisfied and need no more
Than what I know, yet shall the oracle
Give rest to th’ minds of others, such as he 230
Whose ignorant credulity will not
Come up to th’ truth. So have we thought it good
From our free person she should be confined,
Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence
Be left her to perform. Come, follow us. 235
We are to speak in public, for this business
Will raise us all. ANTIGONUS, aside To laughter, as I take it,
If the good truth were known. They exit. | Leontes informs his men that he has sent some guys to Apollo’s temple on the island of “Delphos,” to consult the Oracle to confirm Hermione’s guilt. In the meantime, Hermione is going to rot in jail so she can’t flee Sicily like Camillo and Polixenes. FYI: In the play, the sacred island of “Delphos” (a.k.a. Delos) is linked with Delphi, a real Greek town where people often travelled to consult with Apollo’s Oracle. An oracle, by the way, is a wise person who can predict and interpret the future. In Greek mythology, Apollo appointed an Oracle to speak on his behalf since he was always being pestered by folks who wanted him to tell them what the future had in store for them. |