The Winter's Tale E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Sheba Blake Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 129

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending. The play has been intermittently popular, revived in productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespearean performance history, beginning after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation Florizel and Perdita (first performed in 1753 and published in 1756). The Winter's Tale was revived again in the 19th century, when the fourth "pastoral" act was widely popular. In the second half of the 20th century The Winter's Tale in its entirety, and drawn largely from the First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success.

Leseprobe

THE WINTER'S TALE

BY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Copyright © 2018 by William Shakespeare.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organiza- tions, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Book and Cover design by Sheba Blake Publishing

First Edition: January 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PERSONS REPRESENTED.5

ACT I.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

ACT II.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

ACT V.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

LEONTES, King of Sicilia.

MAMILLIUS, his son.

CAMILLO, Sicilian Lord.

ANTIGONUS, Sicilian Lord.

CLEOMENES, Sicilian Lord.

DION, Sicilian Lord.

Other Sicilian Lords.

Sicilian Gentlemen.

Officers of a Court of Judicature.

POLIXENES, King of Bohemia.

FLORIZEL, his son.

ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian Lord.

A Mariner.

A Gaoler.

An Old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita.

CLOWN, his son. Servant to the Old Shepherd.

AUTOLYCUS, a rogue.

TIME, as Chorus.

HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes.

PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.

EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen.

Other Ladies, attending on the Queen.

MOPSA, shepherdess.

DORCAS, shepherdess.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a Dance; Shepherds, Shepherdesses, Guards, etc.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES' Palace.

[Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS]

ARCHIDAMUS. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

CAMILLO. I think this coming summer the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

ARCHIDAMUS. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed,--

CAMILLO. Beseech you,--

ARCHIDAMUS. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence--in so rare--I know not what to say.--We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

CAMILLO. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

ARCHIDAMUS. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

CAMILLO. Sicilia cannot show himself overkind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced as it were from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

ARCHIDAMUS. I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young Prince Mamillius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.

CAMILLO. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him. It is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man.

ARCHIDAMUS. Would they else be content to die?

CAMILLO. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

ARCHIDAMUS. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II.

The same. A Room of State in the Palace.

[Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants.]

POLIXENES. Nine changes of the watery star hath been The shepherd's note since we have left our throne Without a burden: time as long again Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks; And yet we should, for perpetuity, Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher, Yet standing in rich place, I multiply With one we-thank-you many thousands more That go before it.

LEONTES. Stay your thanks a while, And pay them when you part.

POLIXENES. Sir, that's to-morrow. I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance Or breed upon our absence; that may blow No sneaping winds at home, to make us say, 'This is put forth too truly.' Besides, I have stay'd To tire your royalty.

LEONTES. We are tougher, brother, Than you can put us to't.

POLIXENES. No longer stay.

LEONTES. One seven-night longer.

POLIXENES. Very sooth, to-morrow.

LEONTES. We'll part the time between's then: and in that I'll no gainsaying.

POLIXENES. Press me not, beseech you, so, There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world, So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now, Were there necessity in your request, although 'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder, Were, in your love a whip to me; my stay To you a charge and trouble: to save both, Farewell, our brother.

LEONTES. Tongue-tied, our queen? Speak you.

HERMIONE. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until You had drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir, Charge him too coldly. Tell him, you are sure All in Bohemia's well: this satisfaction The by-gone day proclaimed: say this to him, He's beat from his best ward.

LEONTES. Well said, Hermione.

HERMIONE. To tell he longs to see his son, were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go; But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.-- Yet of your royal presence[To POLIXENES.] I'll adventure The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia You take my lord, I'll give him my commission To let him there a month behind the gest Prefix'd for's parting:--yet, good deed, Leontes, I love thee not a jar of the clock behind What lady she her lord.--You'll stay?

POLIXENES. No, madam.

HERMIONE. Nay, but you will?

POLIXENES. I may not, verily.

HERMIONE. Verily! You put me off with limber vows; but I, Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths, Should yet say 'Sir, no going.' Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will go yet? Force me to keep you as a prisoner, Not like a guest: so you shall pay your fees When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you? My prisoner or my guest? by your dread verily, One of them you shall be.

POLIXENES. Your guest, then, madam: To be your prisoner should import offending; Which is for me less easy to commit Than you to punish.

HERMIONE. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys. You were pretty lordings then.

POLIXENES. We were, fair queen, Two lads that thought there was no more behind But such a day to-morrow as to-day, And to be boy eternal.

HERMIONE. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two?

POLIXENES. We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun And bleat the one at th' other. What we chang'd Was innocence for innocence; we knew not The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd That any did. Had we pursu'd that life, And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven Boldly 'Not guilty,' the imposition clear'd Hereditary ours.

HERMIONE. By this we gather You have tripp'd since.

POLIXENES. O my most sacred lady, Temptations have since then been born to 's! for In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl; Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes Of my young play-fellow.

HERMIONE. Grace to boot! Of this make no conclusion, lest you say Your queen and I are devils: yet, go on; The 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.

LEONTES. Is he won yet?

HERMIONE. He'll stay, my lord.

LEONTES. At my request he would not. Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st To better purpose.

HERMIONE. Never?

LEONTES. Never but once.

HERMIONE. What! have I twice said well? when was't before? I pr'ythee tell me; cram 's with praise, and make 's As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that. Our praises are our wages; you may ride 's With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal:-- My last good deed was to entreat his stay; What was my first? it has an elder sister, Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace! But once before I spoke to the purpose--when? Nay, let me have't; I long.

LEONTES. Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death, Ere I could make thee open thy white hand And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter 'I am yours for ever.'

HERMIONE. It is Grace indeed. Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice; The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; Th' other for some while a friend.

[Giving her hand to POLIXENES.]

LEONTES. Too hot, too hot! [Aside.] To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me;--my heart dances; But not for joy,--not joy.--This entertainment May a free face put on; derive a liberty From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, And well become the agent: 't may, I grant: But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers, As now they are; and making practis'd smiles As in a looking-glass; and then to sigh, as 'twere The mort o' the deer: O, that is entertainment My bosom likes not, nor my brows,--Mamillius, Art thou my boy?

MAMILLIUS. Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES. I' fecks! Why, that's my bawcock. What! hast smutch'd thy nose?-- They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain, We must be neat;--not neat, but cleanly, captain: And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf, Are all call'd neat.--Still virginalling [Observing POL. and HER.] Upon his palm?--How now, you wanton calf! Art thou my calf?

MAMILLIUS. Yes, if you will, my lord.

LEONTES. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have, To be full like me:--yet they say we are Almost as like as eggs; women say so, That will say anything: but were they false As o'er-dy'd blacks, as wind, as waters,--false As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true To say this boy were like me.--Come, sir page, Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain! Most dear'st! my collop!--Can thy dam?--may't be? Affection! thy intention stabs the centre: Thou dost make possible things not so held, Communicat'st with dreams;--how can this be?-- With what's unreal thou co-active art, And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent Thou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost,-- And that beyond commission; and I find it,-- And that to the infection of my brains And hardening of my brows.

POLIXENES. What means Sicilia?

HERMIONE. He something seems unsettled.

POLIXENES. How! my lord! What cheer? How is't with you, best brother?

HERMIONE. You look As if you held a brow of much distraction: Are you mov'd, my lord?

LEONTES. No, in good earnest.-- How sometimes nature will betray its folly, Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd, In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled, Lest it should bite its master, and so prove, As ornaments oft do, too dangerous. How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, This squash, this gentleman.--Mine honest friend, Will you take eggs for money?

MAMILLIUS. No, my lord, I'll fight.

LEONTES. You will? Why, happy man be 's dole!--My brother, Are you so fond of your young prince as we Do seem to be of ours?

POLIXENES. If at home, sir, He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter: Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy; My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all: He makes a July's day short as December; And with his varying childness cures in me Thoughts that would thick my blood.

LEONTES. So stands this squire Offic'd with me. We two will walk, my lord, And leave you to your graver steps.--Hermione, How thou lov'st us show in our brother's welcome; Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap: Next to thyself and my young rover, he's Apparent to my heart.

HERMIONE. If you would seek us, We are yours i' the garden. Shall's attend you there?

LEONTES. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found, Be you beneath the sky. [Aside.] I am angling now. Though you perceive me not how I give line. Go to, go to! [Observing POL. and HER.] How she holds up the neb, the bill to him! And arms her with the boldness of a wife To her allowing husband! Gone already!

[Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants.]

Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd one!-- Go, play, boy, play:-- thy mother plays, and I Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour Will be my knell.--Go, play, boy, play.--There have been, Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now; And many a man there is, even at this present, Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence, And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by Sir Smile, his neighbour; nay, there's comfort in't, Whiles other men have gates, and those gates open'd, As mine, against their will: should all despair That hath revolted wives, the tenth of mankind Would hang themselves. Physic for't there's none; It is a bawdy planet, that will strike Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it, From east, west, north, and south: be it concluded, No barricado for a belly: know't; It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage. Many thousand of us Have the disease, and feel't not.--How now, boy!

MAMILLIUS. I am like you, they say.

LEONTES. Why, that's some comfort.-- What! Camillo there?

CAMILLO. Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES. Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest man.--

[Exit MAMILLIUS.]

Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

CAMILLO. You had much ado to make his anchor hold: When you cast out, it still came home.

LEONTES. Didst note it?

CAMILLO. He would not stay at your petitions; made His business more material.

LEONTES. Didst perceive it?-- They're here with me already; whispering, rounding, 'Sicilia is a so-forth.' 'Tis far gone When I shall gust it last.--How came't, Camillo, That he did stay?

CAMILLO. At the good queen's entreaty.

LEONTES. At the queen's be't: good should be pertinent; But so it is, it is not. Was this taken By any understanding pate but thine? For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in More than the common blocks:--not noted, is't, But of the finer natures? by some severals Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes Perchance are to this business purblind? say.