Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

DION

in The Winter's Tale — Shakespeare, William

Metadata

PlayThe Winter's Tale
AuthorShakespeare, William
Year (catalogued)1623
First performance1610
Decade1620s
GenreRomance
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Speech prefix(es)Dion. | Dio.
Words186
Characters1032
Typicality0.44 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA11954.14
BritDrama no.1631
ClusterCluster 2 — Allegory, Nature & pageant voices

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

I shall report, For most it caught me, the Celestial Habits, (Me thinks I so should term them) and the reverence Of the graven Wearers. Oh, the Sacrifice, How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly It was in the Offering? It the event of the Journey Prove as successful to the Queen (Oh be't so) As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy, The time is worth the use on't. The violent carriage of it Will clear, or end the Business, when the Oracle (Thus by Apollo's great Divine sealed up) Shall the Contents discover: something rare Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh Horses, And gracious be the issue. If you would not so, You pity not the State, nor the Remembrance Of his most Sovereign Name: Consider little, What Dangers, by his Highness fail of Issue, May drop upon his Kingdom, and deuou e Incertain lookers on. What were more holy, Then to rejoice the former Queen is well? What holier, then for Royalties repair, For present comfort, and for future good, To bless the Bed of Majesty again With a sweet Fellow to't?

Plot summary

Plot — The Winter's Tale
Polixenes of Bohemia is coming to the end of a nine-month stay at the Sicilian court of Leontes, his childhood playmate. Leontes cannot persuade him to extend his stay, but the pregnant queen, Hermione, has more success. Leontes conceives a suspicion that Polixenes and Hermione have committed adultery, and that her unborn child is a bastard. He commands Camillo to poison Polixenes, but instead Camillo warns the intended victim and escapes with him to Bohemia. Leontes arrests Hermione and sends to the oracle of Apollo for confirmation of her adultery. She gives birth to a daughter in prison, and Paulina hopes to bring Leontes to his senses by showing him the baby; instead, he orders her husband, Antigonus, to take it out of his dominions and abandon it. Hermione is tried for adultery and treason. The oracle, when read, exonerates her and foretells that, unless the lost be found, Leontes will have no heir. Leontes refuses to believe it, whereupon his son Mamillius, who fell sick when his mother was arrested, dies. Hermione collapses in court and is later reported dead. Antigonus abandons the baby on the coast of Bohemia, and is eaten by a bear. The child, Perdita, is found and adopted by an old shepherd. Sixteen years pass. The penitent Leontes, still mourning Hermione, attempts to recall Camillo to Sicily, but Polixenes will not let him go. Worried by rumours that Prince Florizel is courting a shepherd’s daughter, Polixenes attends the sheep-shearing feast in disguise. When it becomes clear that Florizel intends to marry Perdita without consulting his father, Polixenes intervenes and threatens awful reprisals. Camillo helps Florizel and Perdita to abscond to Sicily, knowing that Polixenes will follow them, enabling him to return home at last. Leontes welcomes the newcomers, who include not only the Bohemian royal family but also the old shepherd, who produces the objects found with baby Perdita; these establish her identity as Leontes’ long-lost daughter. The two kings are reconciled, and Polixenes withdraws his objection to his son’s marriage. The court visits a newly sculpted statue of Hermione in Paulina’s chapel. It turns out to be Hermione herself, still alive and awaiting the return of her daughter.