“Your queen and I are devils. Yet go on; / Th’ offences we have made you do, we’ll answer,/ If you first sinn’d with us, and that with us / you did continue fault. And that you slipp’d not / With any but with us”
(Act I Scene II – Line 82 – 86 / Hermione)
Hermione’s triumphs here again, firstly through her ability to argue freely with Polixenes but also in that she physically represents the procreative and healthy side of sexuality through her pregnancy. This also emphasises the fact that men suffer with time in that they feel they have lost their innocence.
The trail scene (Act III Scene II) is one of the most significant scenes for the female characters in the play. Here Hermione is able to defend her honour and regain the dignity that was taken from her when she was wrongly accused in public. Hermione’s greatest triumph in this scene is her ability to use the quiet and submissive nature thrust upon her by males to triumph over them. She accepts her accusations and defends herself in a clear and concise manner. Her confidence emphasises her innocence and the clarity and calmness of her speeches contrasts directly with the vulgar, ecliptic speeches Leontes has adopted since the beginning of his jealous rage. By not responding to his crude accusations and derogatory comments, she retains her dignity.
Hermione’s values in this scene are also important, she pleads her innocence for the sake of her honour and her children’s honour and not for her life. In doing so, she disarms Leontes, by proving that she is unafraid of the worst that he could possibly threaten.
“Sir spare your threats: / The bug which you would fright me with, I seek. / To me can life be no commodity;”
(Act III Scene II – Line 92 – 94 / Hermione)
Hermione Triumphs over Leontes in her innocence, her faith in the Oracles judgement confirms her innocence and spotlights Leontes for the jealous tyrant that he is.
“I do refer me to the Oracle: / Apollo be my judge!”
(Act III Scene II – Line 115 – 116 / Hermione)
Shakespeare uses this to highlight weakness within males where there is female strength as he has done throughout the play.
Hermione triumphs over Leontes again at the end of the trial scene, when Leontes has emerged from his jealous rage. Here, Hermione is now absent from Leontes life and assumed dead, she triumphs over him by causing him to recognise his faults, trust the consul of women (namely Paulina) and she provokes sixteen years of grief for both her and their children. It is likely that Shakespeare employed this technique to emphasise Leontes dependence on the females in the play, given that, in Hermione and Perdita’s absence it seems that all is lost for Leontes.
Hermione’s final and perhaps her greatest triumph is her forgiveness of Leontes; he wrongly accused her of adultery in public, denied her rest after giving birth, caused the death of their son and sent away their new born child. Yet she was still able to forgive him, this shows her ability to show compassion and love, something Leontes was previously incapable of. Shakespeare uses Hermione’s compassion to highlight the weakness of men through the strength of the women.
The next character we are introduced to is Paulina, the strongest and the most dominant of the three females, physically, psychologically and intellectually. The greatest evidence of Paulina's strength lies in the reaction of many male critics. In 1733, one editor Lewis Theobald claimed that Paulina was "too gross and blunt" for daring to call a King "a downright fool" another male critic; Charles Cowden Clarke famously criticised Paulina for being more vicious than dominant in an 1863 article entitled Shakespeare-Characters; Chiefly those Subordinate. He complained that "she does play the tattoo upon his skull with amazing vivacity and after he is down, too, Paulina cannot forego the gratification of punching him in his maundering distress." Male criticism of Paulina is an important asset to the play, especially criticism from eras where female oppression was still a problem, this reinforces the idea that Paulina defied social convention and did so without concern for any possible consequences, therefore adding to her strength and triumphing over a suppressive, patriarchal society.
Paulina’s character is especially significant as she was not present in the primary source for The Winters Tale, “Pandosto, The Triumph of Time” by Robert Greene this verifies Shakespeare’s high regard for women of strength and his female audience, perhaps Queen Elizabeth in particular.
We first meet Paulina in Act II Scene II; we are quickly made aware of her strength through her imperative nature, when she confronts the gaoler, she doesn’t request to see Hermione she demands it.
“Conduct me to the queen” (Act II Scene II – Line 8 / Paulina)
This immediately provides the audience with an insight into the strength of her character and her feminist qualities. (It is often felt that Paulina not only represents the strength of women but the fight for equality of gender.) The audience know immediately that Paulina has no real fear of men, despite their ‘superior’ position in society. This prepares the audience for Act II Scene III, in which she confronts Leontes.
Prior to Paulina’s entrance, there is a lengthily, ecliptic soliloquy provided by Leontes;
“The very thought of my revenges that way / Recoil upon me:”
(Act II Scene III – Line 19 - 20 / Leontes)
This allows the audience to see Leontes at the height of his madness, thus creating a reason for Paulina’s failure to defend Hermione, without taking away from Paulina’s strength but adding to male weakness by showing Leontes as a jealous, overreacting tyrant who is void of any logical thought.
In Act II Scene III, Paulina triumphs over Leontes and the other men by confronting him when others would not and remaining unafraid of his tyranny. Ironically, the men’s fear of Leontes reflects patriarchal hegemony, in that those who oppressed and mistreated females with tyranny are now oppressed themselves by tyranny. However, what is most significant about this scene is the sacrifice that Paulina has made; she has chosen to confront Leontes, in defence of the innocent Hermione because it is right, regardless of any consequences that she may have to face at the hand of Leontes madness.
Paulina is fierce and quick witted this emphasises her intellectual strength which she uses to her advantage when she confronts Leontes, this strength contrasts with Leontes weakness, when he cannot compete with Paulina he resorts the insults and threats, simply because patriarchal power has given him the authority to do so
“A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o’ door:” (Act II Scene III – Line 68 / Leontes)
“I’ll ha’ thee burnt” (Act II Scene III – Line 112 / Leontes)
These comments refer to the idea of witches, which many feminists, or women who broke social boundaries of the 17th century had become known. Despite this Paulina does not retaliate to his insults and like Hermione disarms Leontes by remaining unafraid of his threats of death, when he threatens to have her burnt she calmly replies
“I care not, / It is an heretic that makes the fire, / Not she which burns in ‘t.”
(Act II Scene III – Line 113 - 115 / Paulina)
Paulina’s greatest Triumph in this scene is her ability to get her point across forcefully, without ever undermining the position of the king, by doing this she triumphs over Leontes who abused his authority to undermine Hermione’s rightful position in society. By accusing her wrongfully and having her imprisoned.
“Good my liege, I come,- / And I beseech you hear me,”
(Act II Scene III – Line 53 - 54 / Paulina)
Paulina is another female character whose strength can be seen in the trial scene, when Leontes finally realises his mistakes Paulina confronts him forcefully once more reminding him of all the wrong he has done and all the destruction he has caused, her determination shows her strength.
“A thousand knees / Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting / Upon a barren mountain and still winter / In storm perpetual, could not move the gods / To look that way thou wert.”
(Act III Scene II – Line 209 - 214 / Paulina)
However, she triumphs over Leontes by realising his remorse and becoming his consul, despite the obvious anger she would have been feeling. Like Hermione, Paulina’s greatest triumph is through her compassion and love, something that Leontes had been incapable of when Hermione needed it most.
“Alas! I have showed too much / the rashness of a woman : he is touch’d / To the noble heart”
(Act III Scene II – Line 220 - 222 / Paulina)
Shakespeare connects all three women through their compassion and ability to forgive, it is likely that Shakespeare used this technique to contrast the ability of females to triumph over men using love and compassion rather than the forceful, abusive and suppressive techniques employed by men of the 17th Century to gain control over women.
Perdita is the final female character we meet, across the 16-year time gap. Perdita’s greatest triumph is her ability to become the princess she was born to be without ever having known her true birthright.
Shakespeare uses Perdita to explore and reverse the idea that attributes of strength came from the father and elements of weakness from the mother. Perdita is described from the very beginning of the play as strong, much like her mother By doing this Shakespeare attributes strength to women and not to the physically strong males as would have been assumed by contemporaries.
“A goodly babe, / Lusty, and like to live:” (Act II Scene II – Line 27 –28 / Emilia)
Perdita’s strength lies in her innocence, as Hermione’s did throughout the trial scene. In Mamillus, we recognise the weakness of his father, in that his death was caused by Leontes failure to recognise Hermione’s innocence. Throughout the play Perdita is described very like her mother Hermione, suggesting that Perdita has received the attributes of strength from her mother and not her father who has been seen as a weaker character throughout the play.
In the same sense, Perdita benefits from time because she grows to become like her mother, despite her mothers absence. Her greatest triumph was growing to become the opposite of her father; there are many examples of the contrasts between the traits of the two characters
“Forewarn him, that he use no scurrilous words in’s / tunes”
(Act IV Scene IV Lines 215 - 216 / Perdita)
Here she displays a strong dislike for vulgar language in this sense she is the complete opposite of her father, whose tyrannical rage was scattered with lengthily speeches containing crude and vulgar references.
Perdita’s innocence is further emphasised because she mistrusts artificiality, in Act IV Scene IV Perdita dresses in majestic robes for the festival and Florizel is disguised as a shepherd, she feels that their appearance has become false and is reluctant to look in a mirror as a result
“poor lowly maid, / Most goddess –like prank’d up but that our feasts / In every mess have folly, and the feeders / Digest it with a custom, I should blush / To see you so attir’d; swoon, I think, / To show myself a glass”
(Act IV Scene IV Line 9 –14 / Perdita)
She also mistrusts the idea of breeding flowers to create an artificial flower because it was not as nature intended. She is disgusted by this idea when Polixenes suggests it later in this scene. Shakespeare uses the flowers as a metaphor for social order and Perdita defies this social convention when she advocates cross breeding. This adds to Perdita’s strength as a female character but it also links her to the other female characters in the play that also triumphed by defying social convention.
Her confrontation with Polixenes is similar to Paulina’s confrontation of Leontes. An argument like this with a male would have been considered “breaking social boundaries” which in itself would have held consequences, however Perdita argues regardless of these consequences because of what she believes and in doing so triumphs over Polixenes.
Another technique employed by Shakespeare to create strength within Perdita’s character is the link created between her and Hermione for example; Perdita symbolises springtime, which in turn is a symbol of fertility and new life. This is reminiscent of our first impressions of the pregnant Hermione in Act I scene II therefore emphasising the attributes of strength that she received from her mother at birth.
Spring is also a symbol of heat this symbol of heat is used with all the women in the play, and this connects Perdita with the women from whom she gained her inner strength but has never met. In the statue scene at the end of the play, Leontes describes Hermione as warm
“O, thus she stood, / Even with such life of majesty, warm life,”
(Act V Scene III Line 34–35 / Leontes)
We can also associate heat with Paulina when Leontes threatens to have her burnt and through her fiery temper. It is likely that Shakespeare associated the female characters in the play with heat and warmth to contrast with the cold nature of the men and their treatment of the women throughout the play.
Perdita is the source of much dramatic irony; she behaves majestically and both Florizel and Polixenes notice this
“this your sheep-shearing is a meeting of the pretty gods, and you the queen on’t”
(Act IV Scene IV Line 3 –5 / Florizel)
“This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever/ Ran on the green-sward: nothing she does or seems / But smacks of something greater than herself, / Too noble for this place”
(Act IV Scene IV Line 166 –169 / Polixenes)
This creates dramatic irony because the audience are aware of Perdita’s birthright and the characters on stage are not. This acts as a means to emphasise Perdita’s strength because she has grown with all the delicacy and grace of a princess without ever knowing where she came from. It also shows the weakness of men in that Polixenes was unwilling to let Florizel marry Perdita because of her social class, even though she had all the attributes of royalty.
Perdita triumphs over her father in that Leontes was unmissed. Perdita never knew her father because of her exile as an infant and never missed him but Leontes has longed for the return of his daughter for 16 years so that she may fulfil the prophecy and restore normality to Sicilia. This is yet another example of the technique employed Shakespeare throughout the play to highlight female strength through male weakness.
Perdita’s final Triumph is her return to Sicilia with Florizel. Her love for Florizel will restore the heir to Sicilia when they marry, which in turn will mend the broken bond between Sicilia and Bohemia. Restoring normality to the lives of the men. This also emphasises the connection between her and the other female characters in the play in that her final triumph used love and compassion something that the men in the play seemed incapable of.
In conclusion, I feel that The Winters Tale does focus specifically on the triumph of women rather than the triumph of time. However, time is also an important aspect throughout the play, emphasised by its personification in Act IV Scene I.
Time’s greatest triumph throughout the play, is its theft of the 16 years that Perdita spent in Bohemia away from her true birthright, Leontes spent grieving for his wife and children, and Hermione spent in hiding from Leontes. This is lost time that cannot be returned to the recently united party.
I feel that Shakespeare’s creation of such strong female characters in this play would have been emphasised by the fact that men would have performed the female characters, thus giving a voice to oppressed females of the 17th century through the very gender that caused such oppression.
Shakespeare’s thinking was very ahead of the society by which he was bound and as a result, his plays still hold relevance in a modern society. Although a lot of the play is unrealistic and slightly fantastical, making it difficult for a modern audience to understand, it remains an innovative portrayal of women as characters of strength, a portrayal that is more easily recognised and used more often in modern productions today.
Bibliography:
Leontes and the Spider – Language and Speaker in Shakespeare’s Last Plays - Anne Barton
Shakespeare-Characters; Chiefly those Subordinate. - Charles Cowden Clarke
Word Count:
With Quotes – 3500
Without Quotes - 2964
Rachel Diane Gordon Candidate Number – 8172
