The Winter's Tale

William Shakespeare

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1623

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Summary

Background

Acts Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Illness and Infection

Illness and infection are recurring motifs in The Winter’s Tale, and typically represent the toxic nature of Leontes’s jealousy. Leontes first speaks of illness when he says “Physic for’t there is none” (1.2.292) when referring to the lack of cure for “revolted wives” (1.2.291). He refers to his thoughts of Polixenes and Hermione as an “infection of my brains” (1.2.224), as does Camillo. However, he says “were my wife’s liver / Infected as her life, she would not live / The running of one glass” (1.2.410-12), suggesting she has been infected by Polixenes. Later, Camillo tells Polixenes “There is a sickness / Which puts some of us in distemper, but / I cannot name the disease; and it is caught” (1.2.503-6), again implying that Leontes’s jealousy is an illness. Polixenes fears Leontes’s slander will cause something “hated too, worse than the great’st infection / That e’er was heard or read!” (1.2.550). During her trial, Hermione says she is “barr’d, like one infectious” (3.2.1315), showing how much Leontes’s jealousy has spread and infected those around him. A sudden unspecified illness after his mother’s arrest is what is said to kill Mamillius, symbolic of how it was his father’s jealousy that killed him.

Though symbolic of the oppressiveness of Leontes’s jealousy and selfish convictions in the earlier acts of the play, the motif of illness is also used to show how much Leontes has changed in the final act. When Perdita and Florizel seek refuge in Leontes’s court, he says “The blessed gods / Purge all infection from our air whilst you / Do climate here!” (5.1.3025-27). Having reflected on his wrongs, he now shows willingness to improve himself by way of expelling an infection in the air. Where Leontes was previously victimized by metaphorical illness with no hope of a cure, he now sees other people’s actions and virtues as a way to dispel these illnesses of jealousy and stubbornness.

Flowers

Flowers are a common symbol in Shakespeare’s plays, from the magical “love-in-idleness” pansy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Ophelia’s symbolic bouquet in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet’s metaphorical “rose by any other name.” At her sheep-shearing feast, Perdita gives flowers to her guests, which are all symbolic and meant to represent something specific, an idea that is explicitly addressed in the play’s dialogue. To represent “grace and remembrance” (4.4.1945) for her unknown guests (Polixenes and Camillo in disguise), Perdita gives them rue and rosemary, two winter flowers, to which Polixenes responds “well you fit our ages / With flowers of winter” (4.4.1948-49). After arguing with Polixenes, she changes her mind, giving “Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram; / The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun / And with him rises weeping: these are flowers / Of middle summer, and I think they are given / To men of middle age” (4.4.1981-85). In contrast, Perdita tells Florizel “I would I had some flowers o’ the spring that might / Become your time of day” (4.4.1992-93)—these flowers’ symbolism having more to do with their forbidden romance than his age. She mentions violets, primroses, and lilies, all of which reflect the purity of youthful love, but also says they “die unmarried, ere they can behold / B[r]ight Phoebus in his strength—a malady / Most incident to maids” (4.4.2002-5) ever aware of the forbidden nature of their relationship. When she wants to strew Florizel with these flowers, he compares himself to a corpse, but she instead sees this arrangement “like a bank for love to lie and play on; / Not like a [corpse]; or if, not to be buried, / But quick and in mine arms” (4.4.2010-12). Though he wants to publicize his love for Perdita, she is aware of their different classes (at the time) and thus vague with her speech. But through the language of flowers, she is able to convey her true feelings.

The Oracle of Delphi and Her Prophecy

The Oracle of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (which Shakespeare often calls Delphos) represents the rule of divine providence over the characters. Leontes’s actions come to a head when he denounces the Oracle’s prophecy, despite having requested it. After he calls the prophecy “mere falsehood” (3.2.1364), it is announced that Mamillius has died and Hermione swoons, appearing to have died as well. These deaths force him to confront his lack of faith, and he claims “Apollo’s angry, and the heavens themselves / Do strike at my injustice” (3.2.1374-75). Leontes’s refusal to believe the Oracle mirrors his unwillingness to listen to the other women in his life: Both Hermione and Paulina speak to Hermione’s fidelity, and Perdita shares her father’s features. It is only when the prophecy is fulfilled through the guidance of Paulina and return of Perdita, followed by the resurrection of Hermione, that divine providence is restored and Leontes is rewarded for his penance.