The Winter's Tale is a play written by William Shakespeare. It was first published in the First Folio in 1623. Although it was originally placed among Shakespeare's comedies, many modern editors now classify it as one of his late romances. Some critics call it a "problem play" because the first three parts of the story focus on serious and emotional conflicts, while the final two parts are more humorous and end with a happy resolution.
The play has not always been widely performed. In the mid-1700s, after many years without major productions, David Garrick introduced his adaptation, Florizel and Perdita, which was first performed in 1753 and published in 1756. In the 1800s, the fourth act, known as the "pastoral" act, became very popular. During the second half of the 1900s, The Winter's Tale was often performed in full, mostly using the text from the First Folio, though the success of these performances varied.
Synopsis
After a short opening scene, the play begins with the arrival of two childhood friends: Leontes, the King of Sicily, and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Polixenes is visiting Sicily and is happy to reunite with his old friend. However, after nine months, Polixenes wants to return to Bohemia to handle matters in his kingdom and see his son. Leontes cannot convince Polixenes to stay longer, so he sends his wife, Queen Hermione, to try to persuade him. Hermione agrees and successfully convinces Polixenes with three short speeches. Leontes is surprised by how easily Hermione persuaded Polixenes and begins to suspect that his pregnant wife has had an affair with the other king. Leontes orders Camillo, a Sicilian lord, to poison Polixenes. Instead, Camillo warns Polixenes, and they both flee to Bohemia.
Angry about their escape, Leontes publicly accuses his wife of being unfaithful and claims that the child she is carrying is the child of Polixenes. He imprisons Hermione, despite protests from his nobles, and sends two of his lords, Cleomenes and Dion, to the Oracle at Delphos to confirm his suspicions. Meanwhile, Hermione gives birth to a girl, and her loyal friend Paulina takes the baby to Leontes, hoping the child will make him feel sorry. Instead, Leontes grows angrier and orders Paulina's husband, Lord Antigonus, to take the baby and leave her in a lonely place. Cleomenes and Dion return from Delphos with the Oracle's message, which states that Hermione and Polixenes are innocent, Camillo is honest, and Leontes will not have an heir until his lost daughter is found. Leontes refuses to believe the Oracle, but soon learns that his son, Mamillius, has died from an illness caused by the accusations against his mother. At this, Hermione faints and is taken away by Paulina, who later tells Leontes that his wife has died. Leontes vows to spend the rest of his life making up for the loss of his son, his abandoned daughter, and his queen.
Meanwhile, Antigonus leaves the baby on the coast of Bohemia, claiming that Hermione appeared to him in a dream and told him to name the girl Perdita. He leaves a bundle containing gold and trinkets to suggest the baby is of noble birth. A sudden storm destroys the ship Antigonus was on. He tries to help the baby but is chased away in one of Shakespeare's most famous stage directions: "Exit, pursued by a bear." Perdita is rescued by a shepherd and his son, known as "Clown."
"Time" enters and announces that sixteen years have passed. Camillo, now serving Polixenes, asks the Bohemian king to allow him to return to Sicily. Polixenes refuses and tells Camillo that his son, Prince Florizel, has fallen in love with a shepherd girl named Perdita. Polixenes suggests they disguise themselves and attend a sheep-shearing feast where Florizel and Perdita will be betrothed. At the feast, hosted by the Old Shepherd (who has prospered from the gold in the bundle), a pedlar named Autolycus steals from the Young Shepherd and entertains guests with songs and trinkets. Polixenes and Camillo, disguised, watch as Florizel (posing as a shepherd named Doricles) and Perdita are betrothed. Polixenes reveals his identity and threatens the Old Shepherd and Perdita with punishment, ordering his son never to see the shepherd's daughter again. Camillo plans to send Florizel and Perdita to Sicily so that Polixenes will follow them. The lovers, along with the shepherds and Autolycus, take a ship to Sicily.
In Sicily, Leontes is still grieving. Cleomenes and Dion urge him to end his period of mourning because the kingdom needs an heir. Paulina convinces Leontes to remain unmarried forever, as no woman can match the greatness of his lost wife. Florizel and Perdita arrive and are warmly welcomed by Leontes. Florizel pretends to be on a diplomatic mission, but his cover is exposed when Polixenes and Camillo also arrive in Sicily. The meeting and reconciliation of the kings and princes are reported by Sicilian court officials: how the Old Shepherd raised Perdita, how Antigonus died, how Leontes was overjoyed to reunite with his daughter, and how he begged Polixenes for forgiveness. The Old Shepherd and Young Shepherd, now honored by the kings, meet Autolycus, who asks for their forgiveness for his dishonest actions. Leontes, Polixenes, Camillo, Florizel, and Perdita then visit Paulina's house, where a statue of Hermione has been completed. When Leontes sees the statue, he is overcome with emotion, but to everyone's surprise, the statue shows signs of life—Hermione has been miraculously restored, or she has lived in seclusion with Paulina for sixteen years. The play ends with Perdita and Florizel engaged, and the group celebrates the miracle. Although the story has a happy ending typical of Shakespeare's comedies, the memory of young Prince Mamillius's unjust death remains, adding a sense of unresolved sadness to the play.
Date and text
The play was not published until the First Folio in 1623. Although some early guesses about its writing date exist, most experts believe it was written later in Shakespeare's career, possibly around 1610 or 1611. A date of 1611 is supported by a possible connection to Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon, performed at court on January 1, 1611. This masque included a dance by ten or twelve satyrs, and The Winter's Tale features a similar dance by twelve men dressed as satyrs. A character in the play mentions that "one three of them, by their own report, sir, hath danc'd before the King" (IV.iv.337–338). Arden Shakespeare editor J.H.P. Pafford noted that the language, style, and structure of the play suggest it was written near the end of Shakespeare's life. He observed features such as complex sentences, speeches that begin or end mid-line, and frequent use of weak endings, which are common in Shakespeare's later works. Pafford also emphasized that the themes and spirit of the play align with Shakespeare's final works.
In the late 18th century, Edmond Malone proposed that a "book" listed in the Stationers' Register on May 22, 1594, under the title "a Wynters nightes pastime," might be Shakespeare's work, though no copy of it is known. In 1933, Dr. Samuel A. Tannenbaum wrote that Malone later changed his mind about the date, suggesting it could be 1604, then 1613, and finally settled on 1610–1611. Hunter later estimated the date to be around 1605.
Analysis and criticism
A play titled The Winter's Tale would suggest to modern audiences that it is a story not meant to be realistic, like a tale told for fun, and that it will end happily. The title may have been inspired by a 1590 play called The Old Wives' Tale by George Peele, in which a storyteller shares a cheerful winter story about a missing daughter. Early in The Winter's Tale, the royal heir, Mamillius, warns that "a sad tale's best for winter." Soon after, his mother is accused of treason and adultery, and his death is announced shortly after she is proven innocent and his father’s accusations are shown to be false.
In the final scene, the language Paulina uses suggests a magical ritual that brings Hermione back to life. However, some parts of the play imply a more likely explanation: Hermione may have fainted during her trial in Act III, and Paulina may have hidden her in a remote place to protect her from Leontes’ anger. The Steward says the court members are going to Paulina’s home to see the statue, and Rogero explains that Paulina visited the remote house often after Hermione’s supposed death. Leontes is surprised by the statue’s wrinkled appearance, unlike the young Hermione he remembers. Paulina claims the wrinkles show the carver’s skill, making Hermione look as if she is alive. Later, Hermione says she endured 16 years of separation because she wanted to see her daughter: "thou shalt hear that I, / Knowing by Paulina that the oracle / Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved / Myself to see the issue."
However, the events in Act III challenge the idea that Hermione was hidden for 16 years. Hermione faints upon hearing of her son’s death and is taken from the room. Paulina later returns with news of Hermione’s death, and Leontes demands to see the bodies of his wife and son. Paulina seems certain of Hermione’s death, and Leontes’ request to see the bodies is never questioned later in the play.
Shakespeare’s contemporary, Ben Jonson, criticized the play for including a seacoast and a desert in Bohemia, a land that did not have a coast or desert in real life. Shakespeare followed his source, Robert Greene’s Pandosto, which gave Bohemia a coast, though he swapped the locations of characters and events. Some scholars argue that during the 13th century, the territories ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia did include areas near the Adriatic Sea, so the name "Bohemia" might have been used to refer to those lands. Others suggest the play’s use of Bohemia was politically motivated, as the court of King James was allied with Rudolf II, and the roles of Sicily and Bohemia were reversed to avoid offending the royal family.
In 1891, Edmund Oscar von Lippmann noted that "Bohemia" was also a rare name for a region in southern Italy called Apulia. Thomas Hanmer, in 1744, argued that "Bohemia" was a mistake and should be "Bithynia," an ancient region in Asia Minor. This idea was used in a 19th-century production of the play that featured a Bithynian court. However, Bithynia was no longer a known region in the medieval period, and the play’s references to ancient places like the Oracle of Delphi suggest it might be set in an earlier time. This is confusing because Hermione is described as a princess of Russia, a country that did not exist in the classical era.
The pastoral genre, which often includes fantasy and mixes old and new ideas, does not require strict realism. This may explain the play’s use of unrealistic geography, such as Bohemia having a seacoast. Andrew Gurr suggests that Shakespeare included such details to highlight the play’s imaginary and dreamlike quality. C. H. Herford proposed that the title The Winter’s Tale hints that the story should be taken as a fanciful tale, like a story told by parents to children by a fire. John A. Pitcher argues that the seacoast in Bohemia is a joke, similar to jokes about a "Swiss Navy." In Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson, the fictional "Seaboard Bohemia" is used as a parody of Shakespeare’s creative use of geography.
Shakespeare’s placement of the Oracle of Delphi on a small island has been criticized as evidence of his limited knowledge. However, he copied this detail directly from his source, Pandosto, and Robert Greene, his model, was not mistaken. The island of Delos, not Delphi, was the birthplace of Apollo and was known as "Delphos" in England during the 15th to 17th centuries. Greene likely based his story on Virgil’s Aeneid, which mentions the Oracle of Delos.
The play includes one of Shakespeare’s most famous stage directions: Exit, pursued by a bear, which hints at the offstage death of Antigonus. It is unclear whether Shakespeare used a real bear from London’s bear pits or an actor in a bear costume. A surviving inventory from 1598 lists "j beares skyne" among the properties of the Admiral’s Men, a rival theater company. It is possible that Shakespeare’s company later used a similar prop for the same scene.
Performance history
The earliest recorded performance of the play was reported by Simon Forman, the Elizabethan "figure-caster" or astrologer. In his journal on 11 May 1611, he wrote that he saw The Winter's Tale at the Globe playhouse. The play was later performed for King James at Court on 5 November 1611. It was also acted at Whitehall during the festivities before Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Frederick V, Elector Palatine, on 14 February 1613. Additional Court performances took place on 7 April 1618, 18 January 1623, and 16 January 1634. Unlike many other Shakespearean plays, The Winter's Tale was not revived during the Restoration period.
In 1741, the play was performed at Goodman's Fields Theatre, and in 1742, it was staged at Covent Garden. Adaptations titled The Sheep-Shearing and Florizal and Perdita were performed at Covent Garden in 1754 and at Drury Lane in 1756. Notable 19th-century performances included those with John Philip Kemble in 1811, Samuel Phelps in 1845, and Charles Kean in 1856. Kean's production was famous for its detailed sets and costumes. In 1887, Johnston Forbes-Robertson played Leontes memorably.
Herbert Beerbohm Tree performed as Leontes in 1906. The longest-running Broadway production featured Henry Daniell and Jessie Royce Landis and lasted 39 performances in 1946. A well-known modern production was staged by Peter Brook in London in 1951, with John Gielgud as Leontes. In the Guthrie Theater's 1976–1977 season, Michael Langham directed a Minneapolis production with Ken Ruta as Leontes and Helen Carey as Hermione. Other actors included Barbara Bryne, Tony Mockus, Mark Lamos, and Oliver Cliff. In 1980, David Jones, a former associate artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, launched his new theatre company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) with The Winter's Tale, starring Brian Murray. In 1983, the Riverside Shakespeare Company performed a version based on the First Folio text at The Shakespeare Center in Manhattan. In 1993, Adrian Noble won a Globe Award for Best Director for his Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation, which was later performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1994. In 1997, a production at Boise State University was directed by Gordon Reinhart and featured Ira Amyx, James B. Fisk, Richard Klautsch, and Randy Davison as Polixenes.
In 2009, four separate productions were staged. Sam Mendes directed The Winter's Tale as part of his transatlantic "Bridge Project," featuring Simon Russell Beale (Leontes), Rebecca Hall (Hermione), Ethan Hawke (Autolycus), Sinéad Cusack (Paulina), and Morven Christie (Perdita). The Royal Shakespeare Company also performed the play. Theatre Delicatessen staged productions of The Winter's Tale in 2009. The play is included in the repertory of the Stratford Festival of Canada and was performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park in 2010. In 2009, the Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey presented a production set in central Europe during the early 1900s, featuring a diverse cast. African American actors Tony White played Leontes, Deirdre Ann Johnson played Hermione, and Monica Jones played both Mamillius and Perdita. Angela Liao appeared as Paulina.
In 2013, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged a new production directed by Lucy Bailey, with Jo Stone-Fewings as Leontes and Tara Fitzgerald as Hermione. The production premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on 24 January 2013.
In 2015, the Kenneth Branagh Production Company performed the play at the Garrick Theatre, with a simultaneous cinema broadcast. The production featured Kenneth Branagh as Leontes, Judi Dench as Paulina, and Miranda Raison as Hermione. That same year, Cheek by Jowl staged the play, directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod. The production toured globally, including France, Spain, the United States, and Russia, and was livestreamed worldwide in partnership with the BBC and Riverside Studios.
In 2017, The Public Theatre Mobile Unit staged the play, directed by Lee Sunday Evans. In 2018, Theatre for a New Audience performed the play Off-Broadway, directed by Arin Arbus, with Kelley Curran as Hermione and Anatol Yusef as Leontes.
In 2018, the play was also performed at Shakespeare's Globe in London. The Globe staged it again in 2023, with the audience walking between the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (where the Sicilian scenes were performed) and the main Globe Theatre (where the Bohemian scenes were performed).
Also in 2023, Empty Space Productions and The University of New England staged a production in Armidale, Australia. The Folger Theatre in Washington, DC, staged a production directed by Tamilla Wodard that fall, marking the first play shown in the theatre after its multi-year, multimillion-dollar renovation.
The play was part of the 2025 season of the Stratford Festival.
Adaptations
There have been many film versions of the story. These include a silent film from 1910, a 1961 television film with Robert Shaw, and a 1967 version with Laurence Harvey playing Leontes. A BBC production, considered traditional, was televised in 1981. It was created by Jonathan Miller, directed by Jane Howell, and featured Robert Stephens as Polixenes and Jeremy Kemp as Leontes. In his 1992 film A Tale of Winter, French director Eric Rohmer included a scene where characters watch a performance of the play.
Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon made a complete ballet with music by Joby Talbot, based on the story. The ballet was a joint production between The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada. It first performed at the Royal Opera House in London in 2014.
In 2015, author Jeanette Winterson wrote The Gap of Time, a modern version of The Winter's Tale. In 2016, author E. K. Johnston published Exit, Pursued by a Bear, another modern version.
On May 1, 2016, BBC Radio 3’s Drama on 3 aired an audio production directed by David Hunter. It included Danny Sapani as Leontes, Eve Best as Hermione, Shaun Dooley as Polixenes, Karl Johnson as Camillo, Susan Jameson as Paulina, Paul Copley as the Shepherd, and Faye Castelow as Perdita.
An opera by Ryan Wigglesworth, based on the story, premiered at the English National Opera on February 27, 2017.
In 2021, the Melbourne Shakespeare Company produced a shortened musical version of the story. It was directed by Jennifer Sarah Dean and performed at Central Park in Melbourne.