This is Mr. Sato.
The Winter’s Tale, Acts II and III.
Picture this.
Your father is falsely accused of a crime and the police are coming to arrest him.
He didn’t do what he’s accused of.
Maybe he’s a dissident and a corrupt political leader is trying to silence him.
Or maybe you’re both living in an unquestionably unfair society,
like parts of America, both North and South,
or the Soviet Union under the dictator, Josef Stalin.
You know perfectly well that your father is not going to get a fair trial.
Honestly, this is happening somewhere in the world right now.
What do you do?
Do you cooperate with the police who work for the corrupt political leader,
and just trust that the system will prove your father’s innocence?
Do you use social media to publicly protest?
Do you help your dad escape the country?
Do you shoot it out with the police?
How can you respond to this kind of injustice in a way that will bring about
the best possible outcome?
Several characters in The Winter’s Tale face terrible injustice from a powerful
and unjust force.
They respond in different ways.
Whose approach worked best?
I think the central question of Acts II and III is, in the abstract, “How should we
respond to injustice and tyranny?”
Or in more concrete terms: “which of these characters responds best to
injustice and tyranny?”
Remember, in Act I, Leontes suspected Polixenes of having had an affair
with his wife, and tried unsuccessfully to kill Polixenes.
In Acts II and III, he turns to his wife.
Now, let there be no question about it; Hermione is innocent.
In Ancient Greek drama, the Oracle at Delphos (or Delphi) spoke divine truth,
and Shakespeare, although he lived 2000 years
after those plays, is not trying to debunk that idea.
If the Oracle says it, then the audience understands that it is true
-- which is why the audience probably gasped in unison
when Leontes says that even the Oracle is lying.
So Acts II and III are about the unjust persecution of a good and
honorable woman, not to mention poor Mamillius and the innocent newborn baby.
Let’s start with Hermione.
In Act II, scene 1, Hermione gently, even lovingly, protests.
Her response is to express an “honorable grief.”
She pities her husband for the day he realizes his “mistake.”
In these two acts, we see her exhibit her courage, her virtue, and her integrity.
At her trial in Act III, she exclaims her pain in having been unjustly and
publicly disgraced, “on every post proclaimed a strumpet.”
Miserable, she asks her husband, “Tell me what blessings I have here alive
that I should fear to die?”
In Act III, scene 2, Hermione says, “If powers divine / Behold our human actions,
as they do, / I doubt not then but innocence shall make / False accusation blush,
and tyranny / Tremble and patience.”
Did it?
Did the fact of her innocence make false accusation and tyranny back down?
Mmm, no, not really.
She dies offstage, according to Paulina.
“...cry woe! — the Queen, the Queen, the sweet’st, dear’st creature’s dead….”
So, she maintains her integrity, but Hermione’s efforts
did not bring about a positive outcome.
What about Paulina’s response to tyranny?
She visits Hermione in jail and tries to get Leontes to accept his daughter,
a move that you could argue results in the baby's abandonment
(though it’s equally possible Leontes would
have had the child burned as he threatened to do).
But boy, she really lets Leontes have it.
She calls him “mad,” “a most unworthy and unnatural lord,” “a heretic,” and
cautiously, she adds: “I’ll not call you tyrant; but this most cruel usage of your
queen, not able to produce more accusation (meaning evidence)
than your own weak-hinged fancy (unfounded imaginings),
something savors of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,
yea, scandalous to the world.”
(In other words, it sure smells like tyranny and it will make you disgraced in
the eyes of the world.)
In Act III, scene ii, the trial scene, when she comes out to announce
Hermione's death, she heaps more abuse on Leontes,
no longer hesitating to call him a tyrant, comparing
him to a child, a fool, a monster, and worse than a devil.
Paulina has guts, no question.
In Act II, she came about two inches from being burned at the stake.
(Leontes:"I'll ha’ thee burnt.”)
But did she bring about a positive outcome?
At this point in the play, you’d have to say not really.
But like an activist, she did tell the brutally honest truth to Leontes, without regard
for her own safety, and there’s definitely something to be said for that.
Next, Camillo.
Camillo ran away with Polixenes back in Act I.
But first he had to deal with his boss ordering him to murder Polixenes,
an innocent man. Camillo can’t just defy Leontes to his face.
Leontes, his absolute monarch, has the power to have him jailed or even
put to death on the spot.
So what Camillo does is lie.
But first, Camillo tries to convince his king that the queen is innocent.
When he fails to do that, he says, “I must believe you, sir.
I do, and will fetch off Bohemia for ‘t.
(I’ll kill the king of Bohemia for you.)”
He doesn’t really believe Hermione is unfaithful; that’s a lie.
But he follows orders.
That’s what a good officer does.
However, when when the king’s back is turned, Camillo betrays his king.
He reluctantly switches loyalty to Polixenes, and says he’ll help Polixenes
to escape but also wants Polixenes to take him with him, because it’s
not safe for him to stay in Sicilia anymore. (“For myself, I’ll put my fortunes
to your service, which are here by this discovery lost.”)
By “discovery,” he means revealing Leontes’ plot to assassinate Polixenes.
And when Polixenes stops to wonder how this misunderstanding could happen,
Camillo wisely says, “I know not, But I am sure ‘tis safer to avoid what’s grown
that question how ‘tis born.”
In other words, don’t stand around analyzing the problem; get away to
safety right away. He is a very practical man.
How does that work out for Camillo?
The play isn’t over yet, but at this point, does it look
like a positive outcome for him?
Yeah, it does.
So the character who responds to tyranny with disloyalty survives
and enjoys a positive outcome. Is Shakespeare
really telling us that being unfaithful to our sworn commitments is good?
Last, Antigonus.
His response is complicated; he doesn’t dare contradict Leontes directly,
but tries to persuade the king to see the absurdity of his accusation
by taking his side and showing him how extreme it is.
(“For every inch of woman in the world, ay, every dram of woman’s flesh,
is false, if she be.”)
He pretends to agree with Leontes, and says, well, if Hermione is
what you say she is, then every woman in the world is.
He says, if Hermione is untrue, then he’ll punish his own underage daughters,
simply because they’re female.
(“If this prove true, they’ll pay for ‘t.”)
He says, “If it be so,” then whole world is “dungy” (covered with dung)
and there's not a single grain of good, clean earth.
But Leontes is unpersuaded.
So next, Antigonus tries to redirect the king’s rage by saying some villain,
some evil guy is putting him on, has deceived him.
(“You are abused, and by some putter-on that will be damned for ‘t.
Would I knew the villain!”
That doesn’t work either.
So, in Act II, scene 3, Antigonus bravely puts his life on the line
to save at least the baby.
He gives his sacred oath to do absolutely anything the king commands, even give up
his own life, if the king will agree to spare the baby’s life.
(“I’ll pawn the little blood which I have left to save the innocent.”
So, Antigonus yields to Leontes’ immoral authority.
Antigonus carries out the command to abandon the baby out in the wilderness,
which is technically not killing the baby
since the elements and wild animals will do that.
Antigonus does as he has sworn to do.
But Antigonus also leaves gold, surely his own -- that gold isn’t from Leontes --
and in a note, names the child Perdita as Hermione’s spirit
asks him to do in a dream.
So, while his wife Paulina is like an activist, speaking truth to power,
Antigonus is the guy who’s trying to improve the system from within.
He’ll still do a bad thing if ordered to do it, like abandon a baby to die, but he
cushions the blow as much as he can.
Insofar as he strays from the king’s immoral command,
he brings about something good. By the way,
looking at the iambic pentameter, I believe the correct way of pronouncing
the baby’s name is Perdita.
“Is counted lost for ever, Perdita.”
If it’s PerDEE-ta, it fouls up the meter.
OK, so obviously, things don’t work out well for Antigonus.
He ends up dinner for a bear.
The stage direction in the play is probably the most famous in all of Shakespeare:
"exit, pursued by a bear.”
I just love that.
Theater directors are still struggling to carry that one out.
Are there any other important characters who have to
choose a response to injustice?
Do you have a different opinion of the outcomes than I do?
Or do you agree with me?
Either one is fine.
You can write about that in the three-paragraph response-journal question.
These three paragraphs will demonstrate your
comprehension, reflection, and application.
Teachers, here’s a link to my response journal rubric.
You’re welcome to use it.
The journal question is: In this play so far,
who responds best to injustice and tyranny?
Justify your answer with evidence that supports your opinion.
Answering that on a literal level, in the first paragraph, shows comprehension.
Show that you really understand the situation.
There could be more than one correct answer to this question.
In the second paragraph, tell what you think or feel about the character
you think responded best.
A good answer will examine your own feelings about it,
and show you understand it deeply.
This paragraph is less about the play as it is about your own feelings about it.
This is reflection.
In the third paragraph, apply this situation to the real world around you.
Apply this situation to the world you live in right now.
Maybe you could talk about the hypothetical situation I described
at the beginning of this video; that happens in real life.
In this paragraph, you’ll get at the heart of the question, which is, what is
the best way for us to respond to tyranny and injustice?
This is what I call application.
And, if you’re interested, here are 10 words from Acts II and III that are still being
used in contemporary English.
You can take a screenshot.
You’re probably aware that the world is not always a fair and just place.
As you move into adulthood, you’ll need to figure out what to do
when you find yourself facing an unfair authority --
a government agency, an employer, maybe even a parent—
and Shakespeare’s characters offer us some different choices.
This video is followed by another one on Acts IV and V.
Be sure to read the rest of the play before watching that one.
There are a couple of surprises ahead.