Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Florizell, Perdita, Camillo,
Paulina, and Lords. LEONTES
O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort
That I have had of thee! PAULINA What, sovereign sir,
I did not well, I meant well. All my services
You have paid home. But that you have vouchsafed, 5
With your crowned brother and these your contracted
Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,
It is a surplus of your grace which never
My life may last to answer. LEONTES O Paulina, 10
We honor you with trouble. But we came
To see the statue of our queen. Your gallery
Have we passed through, not without much content
In many singularities; but we saw not
That which my daughter came to look upon, 15
The statue of her mother. PAULINA As she lived peerless,
So her dead likeness, I do well believe,
Excels whatever yet you looked upon
Or hand of man hath done. Therefore I keep it 20
Lonely, apart. But here it is. Prepare
To see the life as lively mocked as ever
Still sleep mocked death. Behold, and say ’tis well. She draws a curtain
to reveal Hermione (like a statue). I like your silence. It the more shows off
Your wonder. But yet speak. First you, my liege. 25
Comes it not something near? | 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 Her natural posture!—
Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeed
Thou art Hermione; or rather, thou art she
In thy not chiding, for she was as tender 30
As infancy and grace.—But yet, Paulina,
Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothing
So agèd as this seems. POLIXENES O, not by much! PAULINA
So much the more our carver’s excellence, 35
Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her
As she lived now. | 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 As now she might have done,
So much to my good comfort as it is
Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood, 40
Even with such life of majesty—warm life,
As now it coldly stands—when first I wooed her.
I am ashamed. Does not the stone rebuke me
For being more stone than it?—O royal piece,
There’s magic in thy majesty, which has 45
My evils conjured to remembrance and
From thy admiring daughter took the spirits,
Standing like stone with thee. | Leontes admires the “warmth” of the statue and chides himself for being such a rotten husband to Hermione. |
PERDITA And give me leave,
And do not say ’tis superstition, that 50
I kneel, and then implore her blessing. She kneels.
Lady,
Dear queen, that ended when I but began,
Give me that hand of yours to kiss. PAULINA O, patience! 55
The statue is but newly fixed; the color’s
Not dry. | 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, to Leontes, who weeps
My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,
Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,
So many summers dry. Scarce any joy 60
Did ever so long live; no sorrow
But killed itself much sooner. POLIXENES Dear my brother,
Let him that was the cause of this have power
To take off so much grief from you as he 65
Will piece up in himself. PAULINA Indeed, my lord,
If I had thought the sight of my poor image
Would thus have wrought you—for the stone is
mine— 70
I’d not have showed it. LEONTES Do not draw the curtain. PAULINA
No longer shall you gaze on ’t, lest your fancy
May think anon it moves. | 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 Let be, let be. 75
Would I were dead but that methinks already—
What was he that did make it?—See, my lord,
Would you not deem it breathed? And that those
veins
Did verily bear blood? 80 POLIXENES Masterly done.
The very life seems warm upon her lip. LEONTES
The fixture of her eye has motion in ’t,
As we are mocked with art. | 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 I’ll draw the curtain. 85
My lord’s almost so far transported that
He’ll think anon it lives. LEONTES O sweet Paulina,
Make me to think so twenty years together!
No settled senses of the world can match 90
The pleasure of that madness. Let ’t alone. PAULINA
I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirred you, but
I could afflict you farther. LEONTES Do, Paulina,
For this affliction has a taste as sweet 95
As any cordial comfort. Still methinks
There is an air comes from her. What fine chisel
Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,
For I will kiss her. PAULINA Good my lord, forbear. 100
The ruddiness upon her lip is wet.
You’ll mar it if you kiss it, stain your own
With oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain? LEONTES
No, not these twenty years. PERDITA, rising So long could I 105
Stand by, a looker-on. | 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. |
PAULINA Either forbear,
Quit presently the chapel, or resolve you
For more amazement. If you can behold it,
I’ll make the statue move indeed, descend 110
And take you by the hand. But then you’ll think—
Which I protest against—I am assisted
By wicked powers. LEONTES What you can make her do
I am content to look on; what to speak, 115
I am content to hear, for ’tis as easy
To make her speak as move. PAULINA It is required
You do awake your faith. Then all stand still—
Or those that think it is unlawful business 120
I am about, let them depart. LEONTES Proceed.
No foot shall stir. PAULINA Music, awake her! Strike!
Music sounds.
’Tis time. Descend. Be stone no more. Approach. 125
Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,
I’ll fill your grave up. Stir, nay, come away.
Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him
Dear life redeems you.—You perceive she stirs. | 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.” |
Hermione descends. Start not. Her actions shall be holy as 130
You hear my spell is lawful. Do not shun her
Until you see her die again, for then
You kill her double. Nay, present your hand.
When she was young, you wooed her; now in age
Is she become the suitor? 135 LEONTES O, she’s warm!
If this be magic, let it be an art
Lawful as eating. POLIXENES She embraces him. CAMILLO She hangs about his neck. 140
If she pertain to life, let her speak too. POLIXENES
Ay, and make it manifest where she has lived,
Or how stol’n from the dead. | 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. |
PAULINA That she is living,
Were it but told you, should be hooted at 145
Like an old tale, but it appears she lives,
Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.
To Perdita. Please you to interpose, fair madam.
Kneel
And pray your mother’s blessing. To Hermione. 150
Turn, good lady.
Our Perdita is found. HERMIONE You gods, look down,
And from your sacred vials pour your graces
Upon my daughter’s head! Tell me, mine own, 155
Where hast thou been preserved? Where lived? How
found
Thy father’s court? For thou shalt hear that I,
Knowing by Paulina that the oracle
Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved 160
Myself to see the issue. | 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 There’s time enough for that,
Lest they desire upon this push to trouble
Your joys with like relation. Go together,
You precious winners all. Your exultation 165
Partake to everyone. I, an old turtle,
Will wing me to some withered bough and there
My mate, that’s never to be found again,
Lament till I am lost. | 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 O peace, Paulina. 170
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife. This is a match,
And made between ’s by vows. Thou hast found
mine—
But how is to be questioned, for I saw her, 175
As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many
A prayer upon her grave. I’ll not seek far—
For him, I partly know his mind—to find thee
An honorable husband.—Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty 180
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.
To Hermione. What, look upon my brother! Both
your pardons
That e’er I put between your holy looks 185
My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law
And son unto the King, whom heavens directing,
Is troth-plight to your daughter.—Good Paulina,
Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely
Each one demand and answer to his part 190
Performed in this wide gap of time since first
We were dissevered. Hastily lead away. They exit. | 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 Mamillius, who died when his father tried his mother for adultery, and Antigonus, who was eaten by a bear). |