The Winter's Tale (10 page)

PAULINA
     Woe the while!
       O, cut my
lace
¹⁸⁴
, lest my heart, cracking it,
       Break too.

A LORD
     What fit is this, good lady?

PAULINA
     What
studied
¹⁸⁷
torments, tyrant, hast for me?
       What
wheels
¹⁸⁸
?
Racks
? Fires? What flaying? Boiling?
       In leads or oils? What old or newer torture
       Must I receive, whose every word deserves
       To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny,
       Together working with thy jealousies —
      
Fancies
¹⁹³
too weak for boys, too
green
and
idle
       For girls of nine — O, think what they have done
       And then run mad indeed, stark mad! For all
       Thy
bygone fooleries
¹⁹⁶
were but
spices
of it.
       That thou betrayed'st Polixenes, 'twas nothing:
       That did but show thee,
of
¹⁹⁸
a fool,
inconstant
       And damnable ingrateful. Nor was't much,
       Thou wouldst have poisoned good Camillo's honour,
       To have him kill a king.
Poor trespasses
²⁰¹
.
       More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
       The casting forth to crows thy baby-daughter
       To be
or
²⁰⁴
none or little; though a devil
       Would have
shed water out of fire ere done't
²⁰⁵
.
       Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death
       Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts —
       Thoughts high for one so
tender
²⁰⁸
—
cleft
the heart
       That could
conceive
²⁰⁹
a gross and foolish
sire
       Blemished his gracious dam: this is not, no,
      
Laid to thy answer
²¹¹
. But the last — O, lords,
       When I have
said
²¹²
, cry woe! The queen, the queen,
       The sweet'st, dear'st creature's dead, and vengeance for't
       Not
dropped down
²¹⁴
yet.

A LORD
     The higher powers forbid!

PAULINA
     I say she's dead. I'll swear't. If word nor oath
       Prevail not, go and see. If you can bring
      
Tincture or lustre
²¹⁸
in her lip, her eye,
       Heat outwardly or breath within, I'll serve you
       As I would do the gods. But, O thou tyrant,
       Do not repent these things, for they are
heavier
       Than all thy woes can stir
²²¹
: therefore
betake thee
       To
²²²
nothing but despair. A thousand knees
       Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
       Upon a barren mountain and
still
²²⁵
winter
       In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
       To
look that way thou wert
²²⁷
.

LEONTES
     Go on, go on.
       Thou canst not speak too much. I have deserved
       All tongues to talk their bitt'rest.

To Paulina

A LORD
     Say no more.
      
Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault
       I'th'boldness of your speech
²³²
.

PAULINA
     I am sorry for't;
       All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,
       I do repent. Alas, I have showed too much
       The rashness of a woman. He is touched
       To th'noble heart. What's gone and what's past help
       Should be past grief. Do not receive affliction
       At my
petition
²⁴⁰
; I beseech you, rather
       Let me be punished, that have
minded
²⁴¹
you
       Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege,
       Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman.
       The love I bore your queen — lo, fool again! —
       I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children.
       I'll not
remember
²⁴⁶
you of my own lord,
       Who is lost too. Take your
patience
²⁴⁷
to you,
       And I'll say nothing.

LEONTES
    
Thou didst speak but well
       When most the truth
²⁴⁹
, which I receive much better
       Than to be pitied
of
²⁵¹
thee. Prithee bring me
       To the dead bodies of my queen and son.
       One grave shall be for both: upon
them
²⁵³
shall
       The causes of their death appear, unto
       Our shame perpetual. Once a day I'll visit
       The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there
       Shall be my recreation. So long as
nature
       Will bear up with this exercise
²⁵⁷
, so long
       I daily vow to
use
²⁵⁹
it. Come and lead me
       To these sorrows.
Exeunt

Location: Bohemia (coast)

Enter Antigonus
[
carrying the
]
babe
, [
and
]
a Mariner

ANTIGONUS
    
Thou art
¹
perfect
then, our ship hath touched upon
       The
deserts
²
of Bohemia?

MARINER
     Ay, my lord, and fear
       We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
       And threaten
present blusters
⁵
. In my
conscience
,
     The heavens with
that we have in hand
⁶
are angry
       And frown upon's.

ANTIGONUS
     Their sacred wills be done! Go, get aboard.
       Look to thy
bark
⁹
. I'll not be long before
       I call upon thee.

MARINER
     Make your best haste, and go not
       Too far i'th'land: 'tis like to be
loud
¹²
weather.
       Besides, this place is famous for the creatures
       Of prey that keep upon't.

ANTIGONUS
     Go thou away. I'll follow instantly.

MARINER
     I am glad at heart
       To be so rid o'th'business.
Exit

ANTIGONUS
     Come, poor babe.
       I have heard, but not believed, the spirits o'th'dead
       May walk again. If such thing be, thy mother
       Appeared to me last night, for ne'er was dream
       So like a waking. To me comes a
creature
²²
,
       Sometimes her head on one side,
some another
²³
.
       I never saw a
vessel
²⁴
of like sorrow,
       So
filled and so becoming
²⁵
. In pure white robes,
       Like very
sanctity
²⁶
, she did approach
       My cabin where I lay, thrice bowed before me,
       And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
       Became two spouts; the
fury
²⁹
spent,
anon
       Did this break from her: ‘Good Antigonus,
       Since fate, against thy better disposition,
       Hath made thy person for the thrower-out
       Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,
       Places remote enough are in Bohemia.
       There weep and leave it crying. And,
for
³⁵
the babe
       Is counted lost forever,
Perdita
³⁶
,
       I prithee call't. For this
ungentle
³⁷
business
      Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see
       Thy wife Paulina more.' And so, with
shrieks
³⁹
       She melted into air. Affrighted much,
       I did in time collect myself and thought
       This was so and no slumber. Dreams are
toys
⁴²
,
       Yet for this once, yea superstitiously,
       I will be
squared
⁴⁴
by this. I do believe
       Hermione hath suffered death, and that
       Apollo would, this being indeed the issue
       Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,
       Either for life or death, upon the earth
       Of its right father. Blossom,
speed
⁴⁹
thee well.
Lays down the baby
       There lie, and there thy
character
⁵⁰
: there
these
,
       Which may, if fortune please, both
breed thee, pretty,
       And still rest thine
⁵¹
. The storm begins. Poor wretch,      
Thunder
       That for thy mother's
fault
⁵³
art thus exposed
       To loss and what may follow! Weep I cannot,
       But my heart bleeds. And most accursed am I
       To be by oath
enjoined
⁵⁶
to this. Farewell!
       The day frowns more and more: thou'rt like to have
       A lullaby too rough. I never saw
       The heavens so dim by day. A savage
clamour
⁵⁹
!
       Well may I get aboard. This is the
chase
⁶⁰
!
       I am gone forever.
      
Exit, pursued by a bear

[
Enter a Shepherd
]

SHEPHERD
     I would there were no age between ten and three-
     and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest, for there
     is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child,
       wronging the
ancientry
⁶⁵
, stealing, fighting — Hark you now!
     Would any but these
boiled-brains
⁶⁶
of nineteen and two-and-twenty
     hunt
this
⁶⁷
weather? They have scared away two of my
     best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find than the
     master. If anywhere I have them, 'tis by the seaside,
    
browsing of
⁷⁰
ivy. Good luck,
an't be thy
will. What have we here?
     Mercy on's, a
bairn
⁷¹
? A very pretty bairn!

Sees the baby

         A boy or a
child
⁷²
, I wonder? A pretty one, a very pretty one.
     Sure, some
scape
⁷³
. Though I am not
bookish
, yet I can read
     waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been some
stair-work,
     some trunk-work, some behind-door-work
⁷⁴
: they were
    
warmer
⁷⁶
that
got
this than the poor thing is here. I'll take it
     up for pity — yet I'll
tarry
⁷⁷
till my son come. He
hallooed
but
     even now. Whoa, ho, hoa!

Enter
Clown
⁷⁸

CLOWN
     Hilloa, loa!

SHEPHERD
     What? Art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to talk
on
⁸⁰
       when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What
ailest
⁸¹
       thou, man?

CLOWN
     I have seen two such sights, by sea and by land! But
       I am not to say it is a sea, for it is now the sky: betwixt the
      
firmament
⁸⁵
and it you cannot thrust a
bodkin
point.

SHEPHERD
     Why, boy, how is it?

CLOWN
     I would you did but see how it
chafes
⁸⁷
, how it rages,
       how it
takes up
⁸⁸
the shore! But that's not to the point. O, the
       most piteous cry of the poor souls! Sometimes to see 'em,
       and not to see 'em. Now the ship
boring
⁹⁰
the moon with her
       main-mast, and
anon
⁹¹
swallowed with
yeast
and froth, as
       you'd thrust a cork into a
hogshead
⁹²
. And then for the
land-service
,
       to see how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone. How
       he cried to me for help and said his name was Antigonus, a
       nobleman. But to
make an end of the ship
⁹⁵
, to see how the sea
      
flap-dragoned
⁹⁶
it. But first, how the poor souls roared, and
       the sea mocked them. And how the poor gentleman roared
       and the bear mocked him, both roaring louder than the sea
       or weather.

SHEPHERD
     Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

CLOWN
     Now, now. I have not
winked
¹⁰¹
since I saw these
       sights. The men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear
       half dined on the gentleman. He's at it now.