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2009 Study Guide

American Players Theatre PO Box 819 ♦ Spring Green, WI ♦ 53588

www.playinthewoods.org

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Cover Photo: Set of The Winter’s Tale featuring David Daniel as Leontes, 2009. Photo by Zane Williams. All photos from APT productions included in this guide were taken by Zane Williams and Carissa Dixon. If you have any questions or comments regarding the exercises or the information within, please contact David Daniel, APT Education Director, 608-588-7402 x 112 or at education@americanplayers.org. For more information about APT’s educational programs, please visit our website at www.playinthewoods.org.

APT WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MAJOR EDUCATION SPONSORS

This project was also supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin

American Players Theatre’s production is part of Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.

The Alexander Charitable Foundation

Leslie & Patrick Arendt

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2009 Study Guide

for

The Winter’s Tale

Source: Cummings Study Guides. Used with permission.

Character List

Officers of the Court; Emilia, a lady attending on Hermione; A Lady of the court; Antigonus

Paulina, wife to Antigonus A Mariner

Leontes, King of Sicilia An Old Shepherd

Mamillius, his son A Clown, his son

Polixenes, King of Bohemia Autolycus, a rogue

Hermione, Queen to Leontes Florizel, son of Polixenes

Camillo Perdita, daughter of Leontes and Hermione

Lords of the court Mopsa, a shepherdess

A Jailor Dorcas, a shepherdess

Cleomenes Shepherds and Shepherdesses

Dion A Servant

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Synopsis

As the story begins, Leontes, King of Sicilia, becomes suddenly and violently jealous of his Queen (Hermione) and Polixenes, the visiting King of Bohemia, with whom Leontes had spent a blissful childhood. Leontes’ passion mounts furiously as his lords and friends try to counsel him. His most trusted friend and advisor, Camillo, after receiving orders to murder Polixenes, decides instead to warn him, and with him hastily departs Sicilia. Leontes imprisons Hermione, who is eight months pregnant, on charges of adultery and treason. After giving birth to their baby daughter, Hermione entrusts a friend and noblewoman, Paulina, with presenting the baby to Leontes, in the hope that he will soften at the sight of his child. Instead, he commands Antigonus, Paulina’s’ husband, to take the baby out of the kingdom and abandon it to the elements.

Hermione is brought to trial, where everyone awaits the discovery of the contents of Apollo’s Oracle, which Leontes had consulted regarding the guilt of his wife. The Oracle confirms Hermione’s innocence, but no sooner is it revealed than Leontes tyrannically denies it. His blasphemy against Apollo brings on the tragic sequence that closes the first half of the story.

Twenty years pass and we travel now to Bohemia, where we meet Perdita, the child of Leontes and Hermione, now a shepherdess. With her is her love, Prince Florizel of Bohemia, son to King Polixenes. After considerable difficulty, arising from a royal father’s indignation at the prospect of a marriage between his Prince and a lowly shepherdess, all parties are reunited back in Sicilia, where Leontes has been grieving and repenting these sixteen years, guided and cared for by Paulina.

Problems and Questions for Discussion

1. No editor, critic or director of The Winter’s Tale, it seems, has been able to

safely avoid the question of the origins and onset of Leontes’ jealousy; nor can

it be safely avoided. Those who find fault with the play, or with this

“springboard” for the action of the play, tend to find it incredible,

unmotivated, overdone and underprepared. Still, Shakespeare does not show

us the pre-explosion Leontes, does not make us privy to the ticks, or does so

for only a few moments. The author does not seem to be interested in

motivating or foreshadowing the crisis (although some “defenders” of

Shakespeare’s choice on this point have gone to heroic lengths to demonstrate

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that, lurking in Hermione’s and Polixenes’ “sensually and sexually charged”

language, there is ample cause for Leontes to “go off” as he does). 2.

Camillo’s Choice

Camillo, after being ordered by Leontes to murder Polixenes, first tells

Leontes that he will do it, then decides to forsake the court without

carrying out his orders, and finally tells Polixenes of the plot against him

and, with this foreign king, flees Sicilia. Disobedience, deception, and

treason are all brought into play for Camillo in the course of this scene. Put

yourself in Camillo’s place. What is his thought process, and his

accompanying emotions, as events unfold.

3. What of Camillo’s and Polixenes’ flight?

Why do Camillo and Polixenes flee Sicilia, leaving Hermione alone,

unprotected, and without two of her most reliable witnesses?

4. Hermione’s Innocence

Is Hermione’s innocence (or guilt) a matter of suspense in The Winter’s

Tale?

6. Paulina’s Intervention and Character

Apparently 23 days pass between the imprisonment of Hermione and the

birth of her baby daughter. During this time, Leontes’ jealousy becomes

firmly rooted, his passion seems to persist unabated, and his lords are

powerless to change his determination or to mitigate his rage. Why does

Paulina choose to intervene, what is her plan, and how is she thwarted?

Does the passionate nature of her character contribute to the downfall of

her plan? Or do you find her entirely justified in her behavior as in her

intent? Would greater tact and diplomacy have helped?

7. Antigonus' Oath and Fate

Perhaps Antigonus, as a character, is no less interesting than his wife.

(Except that she, of course, lives longer.) Of what stuff is he made? How is

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he different from the other lords (the reason, perhaps, that Shakespeare

gave him a name)? On the question of allegiance and duty, how is he like

or unlike Camillo? (Is it that simple?)

Themes

Reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy, loss and finding, time, growth, decay and

regeneration, constancy, city versus rural.

David Frank, Director

Tell us about The Winter’s Tale. In the case of The Winter’s Tale, the play is

suffused by a sense of time and the great cycles that loom over our fleeting

journey here on earth: the change of the seasons, youth and age, birth and death

- endless growth, decay and regeneration. But for all its cyclical rigor, time is also

the balm that allows for forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. Thus, the

remorseless calendar is checked by the momentary and the personal, reminding

us again of the unlikely miracle of our own brief consciousness. These thematic

contrasts are perhaps reflected not only in the flavor but also in the very structure

of the play. The Winter’s Tale is on one hand a preposterous story, sensible only if

thought of as myth or fairy tale while on the other hand it is a gruelingly detailed

and realistic study of jealousy and defensiveness. The challenge is to reconcile

these apparent differences. We have attempted to achieve this by reminding

ourselves of the title, that it is a winter’s tale, and assigning to one of the

characters, Paulina, the task of being the story-teller, as if she is in the act of

remembering the events. We hope you will enjoy all the advantages of a great

story – a tall tale that cheerfully ignores the pedantic restraints of probability – as

well as the rewards of a taut, detailed poetic drama that convincingly explores our

most intimate weaknesses and fundamental needs.

Bob Morgan, Costume Designer for Winter’s Tale

What inspires you? Parts of the last act of Winter's Tale have always reminded

me of Thomas Mann's A Death in Venice. But other scenes with the Clown and

Autolycus seem more like a Steve Martin movie. That's typical of Shakespeare's

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work: the wildest extremes often co-exist, each providing an essential theatrical

foil for the other.

Study Questions

1. What do we learn from the noblemen in the first scene about their lords’

relationship? About courtly manners versus real behavior? What happens

to people when they believe themselves to be members of the upper class?

2. Why personify Time? Note the specific use of time in the early parts of the

play- nine months for Polixenes’ visit, three months to woo Hermione; then

suddenly Time floats in as a character and sixteen years simply vanish.

3. Where do we find the play’s title in the production? What does it mean?

Who refers to it? How does it relate to the setting of the play?

4. What is Hermione like? How does she compare to Paulina? To Perdita?

5. What is Paulina like? How does she compare to Hermione as a wife? As a

servant to her King? How does she compare to Camillo and Antigonus as a

servant of the King? How do Leontes and Antigonus compare as husbands?

6. What is the role of Mamillius in the tale? Why does he sicken and die?

What does his sickness represent?

7. Why does Antigonus agree to abandon Perdita? What values is he being

forced to choose between? Why does he die? What does the bear

represent?

8. Think of this as two tales of two related families. How do they relate to

each other? Why should the tale of Perdita’s love for Florizel be parallel to

the tale of Leontes’ abuse of his wife?

9. Do you buy the ending? Why or why not?

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Activities

1. Talk about jealousy with the class. Have students tell about situations that

they know of that relate to their friends/family or movies and TV shows.

Discuss how they compare/contrast to Leontes’ jealousy. Is Leontes

justified in his jealousy? Why or why not?

2. Have a volunteer stand in the center of the room with their eyes closed.

They are acting out the part of Leontes. Have the rest of the class surround

the student and try to creep up on him/her without being heard. (This is

similar to Red Light/Green Light.) If the volunteer hears someone, they

should point to them. That person should then say something that is

probably bothering Leontes about Hermione and Polixenes. (Such as: Why

are they whispering? How long has this been going on? Why didn’t I notice

it before, etc.) Once the thought has been voiced, then the student who

was heard goes back to the outside of the room. Eventually, someone will

reach Leontes. The person playing Leontes can talk about what it was like

knowing that people were creeping up on him/her and how that made

him/her feel.

3. In Act 3 scene 2, Hermione is on trial. Have students read some of the

lines, trying to determine all that Hermione has lost. (Shunned by her

husband, separated from her son, her newborn baby taken away, declared

to be an unfaithful wife). Have students enact frozen pictures of each loss,

while one volunteer plays Hermione, who recites her speech. Discuss how

she must feel with the class.

4. Camillo is in a bad situation. He is ordered to kill Polixenes, by Leontes, but

he isn’t sure that Polixenes is guilty. Have a volunteer either read the

speech from Act 1 scene 2 or speak it in modern English, while two other

volunteers play the angel and devil on either shoulder. What would the

angel say? What would the devil say? Discuss how Camillo cannot win.

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The Winter’s Tale Photo Summary

Hermione gives birth in prison, and Leontes sends Antigonus to abandon the baby in the woods for fear she is

not his child.

“Come on, poor babe: some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens to be thy nurses”

“Apollo’s angry; and the heavens themselves do strike at my injustice”

Hermione is found innocent at trial, but Leontes overrules. Their son dies

as a result, and Hermione is overcome by grief.

King Leontes irrationally believes his wife is having an affair with his childhood friend, Polixenes and has her arrested.

“Then say my wife’s a hobby-horse, deserves a name as rank as any flax-wench that puts to before her troth-plight”

“I will respect thee as a father if thou bear’st my life off. Hence! Let us avoid”

Leontes orders Camillo to murder Polixenes, but he warns him instead

and they escape together.

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Leontes realizes too late that he was wrong.

“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 daily exercise, so long I daily vow to use it” A shepherd discovers the

abandoned baby after Antigonus is eaten by a bear.

“Now bless thyself: thou met’st with things

dying, I with things new-born”

“No shepherdess, but Flora peering in April’s front. This your sheep-shearing is as a meeting of the petty gods and you the

queen on’t” Polixenes son, Florizel, has fallen in love with Perdita, but his father forbids them to marry.

“Mark your divorce, young sir, whom son I dare not call”

The Winter’s Tale Photo Summary

16 years later, the abandoned infant—Perdita—is living as a shepherdess in Bohemia.

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“Go together, you precious winners all”

The Winter’s Tale Photo Summary

A incredibly lifelike statue of Hermione is unveiled and eventually revealed to be the Queen—who is very much

alive.

“O, she’s warm! If this be magic, let it be an art lawful

as eating”

“I am put to sea with her whom here I cannot hold on shore”

The lovers go to Sicilia where Perdita and Florizel meet Leontes.

“What might I have been, might I a son and daughter now have look’d on, such goodly things as you”

The family is finally mended.

Florizel and Perdita decide to run off to Sicilia to get married.