The New Scene in the Winter’s Tale

Introduction

Recently, what appears to be a new quarto of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale has been discovered. The new scene appears to fit in the timeline of the play after Act 3, Scene 2. It describes an interaction between Hermione and Paulina after the death of Mamilius the banishment of baby Perdita. In the scene, the two women decide that, until Leontes realizes the error of his ways and searches for baby Perdita, Hermione will pretend to be dead.

The Common Beliefs of That Time in the Scene

Despite the differences in Shakespeare’s usual style and the style of this new quarto, the scene was definitely written by Shakespeare. There is a heavy influence of the customs of the time in the scene; for example, the scene explores the relationships between a husband and wife and a king and his subjects during the early modern period in Europe. In the scene, though Paulina is determined to teach Leontes a lesson, Hermione reminds her of the fact that Leontes is both her husband and her king. Even if his actions are wrong, he holds all the authority in the household, because in the early modern period, “All the occupants of the household, including the mistress, were subservient to the head” (Gottlieb, 42).

The scene also brings up the belief of the time that all women were dishonest. In Act 2, Leontes, becomes jealous of his wife and Polixenes, and publicly pronounces that “[Hermione]’s an adult’ress” (2.2.97). Despite there being no evidence that the two were having an affair, Leontes is quick to conclude that his wife is unfaithful to him, because women were considered to be “sexually promiscuous” (Shmoop Editorial Team). With the new scene, Shakespeare seems to be mocking this belief, showing Paulina’s anger and Hermione’s willingness to pretend to be dead to prove to Leontes that women are not the “devils” (1.2.103-104) that men see them as capable of being.

The Meaning of the Scene

The addition of this scene alters the play by confirming the view that Hermione did not die in prison and that she was simply in hiding for the 16 years the play skipped over. This is a very important addition to the play because it adds weight to Paulina’s actions towards Leontes in the latter half of the play. Whenever Leontes is in danger of forgetting his wife or his actions towards her, Paulina is quick to remind him, often using “blunt words” (Dolan, XXXVII). She is also very insistent that Leontes not marry anyone “but by [her] free leave” (5.1.86). Without Hermione being alive, her actions could have been seen as those of someone intent on keeping the king on his toes after his many mistakes; however, now that we know Hermione isn’t dead, we know that Paulina wants to keep the king from marrying anyone else while the queen is still alive.

The introduction of this scene also challenges the belief during the early modern period that women were unable to oppose their husbands’ wishes. In the new scene, Paulina, who is seen as an assertive, masculine women (Dolan, XXXVI) influences Hermione to take action against her husband. While Hermione was initially nervous about Paulina’s plan, she ultimately decides to go along with it and keeps her survival a secret from her husband for 16 years.

Conclusion

With the discovery of this new scene, a literary mystery in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale has been solved: Hermione did not actually die after the loss of her son. She hid from the king for 16 years, and reappeared once her daughter returned to Sicilia. This scene connects with and challenges aspects of the early modern period’s culture, especially themes of husband-wife relations and women’s expectations.