The Winter’s Tale · Chapter
Scene III explained
Leontes, tormented by jealousy and unable to rest, orders the newborn daughter he believes is illegitimate to be taken away and abandoned.
What happens
Leontes, tormented by jealousy and unable to rest, orders the newborn daughter he believes is illegitimate to be taken away and abandoned. Paulina bravely confronts him, defending the queen and the child, but Leontes remains adamant. He commands Antigonus to carry the infant to a remote place and leave it to its fate. Meanwhile, messengers from the Oracle at Delphos have returned, and Leontes prepares to arraign Hermione in a public trial.
Themes in this chapter
Jealousy and Paranoia
Leontes' irrational jealousy drives him to order the death of his infant daughter and accuse his wife, showing how paranoia corrupts reason and justice.
Faith and Oracles
The arrival of Cleomenes and Dion from the Oracle at Delphos highlights the role of divine truth in human affairs, as Leontes prepares to seek the Oracle's verdict.
Loss and Renewal
The abandonment of Perdita sets the stage for future loss and eventual renewal, as the child is cast out to an uncertain fate.
Characters to notice
- Leontes
Consumed by jealousy and paranoia, he orders the death of his newborn daughter and prepares to put Hermione on trial.
- Paulina
Bravely confronts Leontes, defending the queen and the infant, and rebukes his tyranny.
- Antigonus
Forced by Leontes to swear an oath to abandon the infant Perdita in a remote place, despite his reluctance.
- Hermione
Mentioned as the queen who has given birth to a daughter and is now accused of adultery.
- Mamillius
Reported to be ill and declining due to the shame of his mother's alleged dishonor.
- Cleomenes
Returns from Delphos with Dion, bearing the Oracle's response.
- Dion
Returns from Delphos with Cleomenes, having completed the journey to the Oracle.
Key passages
“Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weakness To bear the matter thus; mere weakness.”
Leontes cannot sleep or find peace, and he berates himself for being weak in handling his jealousy.
Leontes reveals his torment and self-loathing over his obsessive thoughts.
“I come to bring him sleep. 'Tis such as you, That creep like shadows by him and do sigh At each his needless heavings, such as you Nourish the cause of his awaking: I Do come with words as medicinal as true, Honest as either, to purge him of that humour That presses him from sleep.”
Paulina claims she can cure Leontes' insomnia with truthful and healing words, unlike the servants who only enable his madness.
Paulina positions herself as a physician to Leontes' mind, contrasting her honesty with the sycophancy of others.
“It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in't.”
The one who lights the fire is the heretic, not the innocent person being burned.
Paulina defiantly tells Leontes that his tyranny, not her truth, is the real sin.
“I do in justice charge thee, On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture, That thou commend it strangely to some place Where chance may nurse or end it.”
I command you, under threat of death and torture, to take this child to a remote place and leave it to fate, whether it lives or dies.
Leontes orders Antigonus to abandon Perdita, showing his cruelty and the precariousness of the infant's life.
