| ACT V SCENE III | A chapel in Paulina's house. | |
| [
Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA,
CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants
] |
| 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 crown'd 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 honour you with trouble: but we came |
| To see the statue of our queen: your gallery |
| Have we pass'd 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 look'd 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 mock'd as ever |
| Still sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well. |
[
PAULINA draws a curtain, and discovers HERMIONE
standing 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? |
| 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 aged 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 | 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 woo'd 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. |
| PERDITA | And give me leave, |
| And do not say 'tis superstition, that | 50 |
| I kneel and then implore her blessing. Lady, |
| Dear queen, that ended when I but began, |
| Give me that hand of yours to kiss. |
| PAULINA | O, patience! |
| The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's Not dry. | 55 |
| CAMILLO | My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on, |
| Which sixteen winters cannot blow away, |
| So many summers dry; scarce any joy |
| Did ever so long live; no sorrow |
| But kill'd itself much sooner. | 60 |
| POLIXENES | Dear my brother, |
| Let him that was the cause of this have power |
| To take off so much grief from you as he |
| Will piece up in himself. |
| PAULINA | Indeed, my lord, | 65 |
| If I had thought the sight of my poor image |
| Would thus have wrought you,--for the stone is mine-- |
| I'ld not have show'd it. |
| LEONTES | Do not draw the curtain. |
| PAULINA | No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancy | 70 |
| May think anon it moves. |
| LEONTES | Let be, let be. |
| 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 | 75 |
| Did verily bear blood? |
| POLIXENES | Masterly done: |
| The very life seems warm upon her lip. |
| LEONTES | The fixture of her eye has motion in't, |
| As we are mock'd with art. | 80 |
| PAULINA | I'll draw the curtain: |
| 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! | 85 |
| No settled senses of the world can match |
| The pleasure of that madness. Let 't alone. |
| PAULINA | I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr'd you: but |
| I could afflict you farther. |
| LEONTES | Do, Paulina; | 90 |
| For this affliction has a taste as sweet |
| 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. | 95 |
| PAULINA | Good my lord, forbear: |
| 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. | 100 |
| PERDITA | So long could I |
| Stand by, a looker on. |
| PAULINA | Either forbear, |
| Quit presently the chapel, or resolve you |
| For more amazement. If you can behold it, | 105 |
| I'll make the statue move indeed, descend |
| 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, | 110 |
| I am content to look on: what to speak, |
| 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; | 115 |
| On: those that think it is unlawful business |
| I am about, let them depart. |
| LEONTES | Proceed: |
| No foot shall stir. |
| PAULINA | Music, awake her; strike! | 120 |
[Music] |
| 'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach; |
| 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: | 125 |
[HERMIONE comes down] |
| Start not; her actions shall be holy as |
| 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 woo'd her; now in age | 130 |
| Is she become the suitor? |
| LEONTES | O, she's warm! |
| If this be magic, let it be an art |
| Lawful as eating. |
| POLIXENES | She embraces him. | 135 |
| CAMILLO | She hangs about his neck: |
| If she pertain to life let her speak too. |
| POLIXENES | Ay, and make't manifest where she has lived, |
| Or how stolen from the dead. |
| PAULINA | That she is living, | 140 |
| Were it but told you, should be hooted at |
| Like an old tale: but it appears she lives, |
| Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while. |
| Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneel |
| And pray your mother's blessing. Turn, good lady; | 145 |
| 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. |
| Where hast thou been preserved? where lived? how found | 150 |
| Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear that I, |
| Knowing by Paulina that the oracle |
| Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved |
| Myself to see the issue. |
| PAULINA | There's time enough for that; | 155 |
| Lest they desire upon this push to trouble |
| Your joys with like relation. Go together, |
| You precious winners all; your exultation |
| Partake to every one. I, an old turtle, |
| Will wing me to some wither'd bough and there | 160 |
| My mate, that's never to be found again, |
| Lament till I am lost. |
| LEONTES | O, peace, Paulina! |
| Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent, |
| As I by thine a wife: this is a match, | 165 |
| And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine; |
| But how, is to be question'd; for I saw her, |
| 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 | 170 |
| An honourable husband. Come, Camillo, |
| And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty |
| Is richly noted and here justified |
| By us, a pair of kings. Let's from this place. |
| What! look upon my brother: both your pardons, | 175 |
| That e'er I put between your holy looks |
| My ill suspicion. This is your son-in-law, |
| And son unto the king, who, heavens directing, |
| Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina, |
| Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely | 180 |
| Each one demand an answer to his part |
| Perform'd in this wide gap of time since first |
| We were dissever'd: hastily lead away. |
| [Exeunt] |
The Winter's Tale: Plot Summary