SCENE III. A room in LEONTES' palace. Winter's Tale  Shakespeare homepage  |  Winter's Tale  | Act 2, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE III. A room in LEONTES' palace. 

 Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and Servants  LEONTES  Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weakness 

 To bear the matter thus; mere weakness. If 

 The cause were not in being,--part o' the cause, 

 She the adulteress; for the harlot king 

 Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank 

 And level of my brain, plot-proof; but she 

 I can hook to me: say that she were gone, 

 Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest 

 Might come to me again. Who's there? 

 First Servant  My lord? 

 LEONTES  How does the boy? 

 First Servant  He took good rest to-night; 

 'Tis hoped his sickness is discharged. 

 LEONTES  To see his nobleness! 

 Conceiving the dishonour of his mother, 

 He straight declined, droop'd, took it deeply, 

 Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself, 

 Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep, 

 And downright languish'd. Leave me solely: go, 

 See how he fares. 



 Exit Servant  Fie, fie! no thought of him: 

 The thought of my revenges that way 

 Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty, 

 And in his parties, his alliance; let him be 

 Until a time may serve: for present vengeance, 

 Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes 

 Laugh at me, make their pastime at my sorrow: 

 They should not laugh if I could reach them, nor 

 Shall she within my power. 



 Enter PAULINA, with a child  First Lord  You must not enter. 

 PAULINA  Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me: 

 Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas, 

 Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul, 

 More free than he is jealous. 

 ANTIGONUS  That's enough. 

 Second Servant  Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commanded 

 None should come at him. 

 PAULINA  Not so hot, good sir: 

 I come to bring him sleep. 'Tis such as you, 

 That creep like shadows by him and do sigh 

 At each his needless heavings, such as you 

 Nourish the cause of his awaking: I 

 Do come with words as medicinal as true, 

 Honest as either, to purge him of that humour 

 That presses him from sleep. 

 LEONTES  What noise there, ho? 

 PAULINA  No noise, my lord; but needful conference 

 About some gossips for your highness. 

 LEONTES  How! 

 Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus, 

 I charged thee that she should not come about me: 

 I knew she would. 

 ANTIGONUS  I told her so, my lord, 

 On your displeasure's peril and on mine, 

 She should not visit you. 

 LEONTES  What, canst not rule her? 

 PAULINA  From all dishonesty he can: in this, 

 Unless he take the course that you have done, 

 Commit me for committing honour, trust it, 

 He shall not rule me. 

 ANTIGONUS  La you now, you hear: 

 When she will take the rein I let her run; 

 But she'll not stumble. 

 PAULINA  Good my liege, I come; 

 And, I beseech you, hear me, who profess 

 Myself your loyal servant, your physician, 

 Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dare 

 Less appear so in comforting your evils, 

 Than such as most seem yours: I say, I come 

 From your good queen. 

 LEONTES  Good queen! 

 PAULINA  Good queen, my lord, 

 Good queen; I say good queen; 

 And would by combat make her good, so were I 

 A man, the worst about you. 

 LEONTES  Force her hence. 

 PAULINA  Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes 

 First hand me: on mine own accord I'll off; 

 But first I'll do my errand. The good queen, 

 For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter; 

 Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing. 



 Laying down the child  LEONTES  Out! 

 A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door: 

 A most intelligencing bawd! 

 PAULINA  Not so: 

 I am as ignorant in that as you 

 In so entitling me, and no less honest 

 Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant, 

 As this world goes, to pass for honest. 

 LEONTES  Traitors! 

 Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard. 

 Thou dotard! thou art woman-tired, unroosted 

 By thy dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard; 

 Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone. 

 PAULINA  For ever 

 Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou 

 Takest up the princess by that forced baseness 

 Which he has put upon't! 

 LEONTES  He dreads his wife. 

 PAULINA  So I would you did; then 'twere past all doubt 

 You'ld call your children yours. 

 LEONTES  A nest of traitors! 

 ANTIGONUS  I am none, by this good light. 

 PAULINA  Nor I, nor any 

 But one that's here, and that's himself, for he 

 The sacred honour of himself, his queen's, 

 His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, 

 Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; 

 and will not-- 

 For, as the case now stands, it is a curse 

 He cannot be compell'd to't--once remove 

 The root of his opinion, which is rotten 

 As ever oak or stone was sound. 

 LEONTES  A callat 

 Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband 

 And now baits me! This brat is none of mine; 

 It is the issue of Polixenes: 

 Hence with it, and together with the dam 

 Commit them to the fire! 

 PAULINA  It is yours; 

 And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge, 

 So like you, 'tis the worse. Behold, my lords, 

 Although the print be little, the whole matter 

 And copy of the father, eye, nose, lip, 

 The trick of's frown, his forehead, nay, the valley, 

 The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek, 

 His smiles, 

 The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger: 

 And thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made it 

 So like to him that got it, if thou hast 

 The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours 

 No yellow in't, lest she suspect, as he does, 

 Her children not her husband's! 

 LEONTES  A gross hag 

 And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd, 

 That wilt not stay her tongue. 

 ANTIGONUS  Hang all the husbands 

 That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself 

 Hardly one subject. 

 LEONTES  Once more, take her hence. 

 PAULINA  A most unworthy and unnatural lord 

 Can do no more. 

 LEONTES  I'll ha' thee burnt. 

 PAULINA  I care not: 

 It is an heretic that makes the fire, 

 Not she which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant; 

 But this most cruel usage of your queen, 

 Not able to produce more accusation 

 Than your own weak-hinged fancy, something savours 

 Of tyranny and will ignoble make you, 

 Yea, scandalous to the world. 

 LEONTES  On your allegiance, 

 Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant, 

 Where were her life? she durst not call me so, 

 If she did know me one. Away with her! 

 PAULINA  I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. 

 Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: 

 Jove send her 

 A better guiding spirit! What needs these hands? 

 You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, 

 Will never do him good, not one of you. 

 So, so: farewell; we are gone. 



 Exit  LEONTES  Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this. 

 My child? away with't! Even thou, that hast 

 A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence 

 And see it instantly consumed with fire; 

 Even thou and none but thou. Take it up straight: 

 Within this hour bring me word 'tis done, 

 And by good testimony, or I'll seize thy life, 

 With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse 

 And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so; 

 The bastard brains with these my proper hands 

 Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire; 

 For thou set'st on thy wife. 

 ANTIGONUS  I did not, sir: 

 These lords, my noble fellows, if they please, 

 Can clear me in't. 

 Lords  We can: my royal liege, 

 He is not guilty of her coming hither. 

 LEONTES  You're liars all. 

 First Lord  Beseech your highness, give us better credit: 

 We have always truly served you, and beseech you 

 So to esteem of us, and on our knees we beg, 

 As recompense of our dear services 

 Past and to come, that you do change this purpose, 

 Which being so horrible, so bloody, must 

 Lead on to some foul issue: we all kneel. 

 LEONTES  I am a feather for each wind that blows: 

 Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel 

 And call me father? better burn it now 

 Than curse it then. But be it; let it live. 

 It shall not neither. You, sir, come you hither; 

 You that have been so tenderly officious 

 With Lady Margery, your midwife there, 

 To save this bastard's life,--for 'tis a bastard, 

 So sure as this beard's grey, 

 --what will you adventure 

 To save this brat's life? 

 ANTIGONUS  Any thing, my lord, 

 That my ability may undergo 

 And nobleness impose: at least thus much: 

 I'll pawn the little blood which I have left 

 To save the innocent: any thing possible. 

 LEONTES  It shall be possible. Swear by this sword 

 Thou wilt perform my bidding. 

 ANTIGONUS  I will, my lord. 

 LEONTES  Mark and perform it, see'st thou! for the fail 

 Of any point in't shall not only be 

 Death to thyself but to thy lewd-tongued wife, 

 Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee, 

 As thou art liege-man to us, that thou carry 

 This female bastard hence and that thou bear it 

 To some remote and desert place quite out 

 Of our dominions, and that there thou leave it, 

 Without more mercy, to its own protection 

 And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune 

 It came to us, I do in justice charge thee, 

 On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture, 

 That thou commend it strangely to some place 

 Where chance may nurse or end it. Take it up. 

 ANTIGONUS  I swear to do this, though a present death 

 Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe: 

 Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens 

 To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say 

 Casting their savageness aside have done 

 Like offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous 

 In more than this deed does require! And blessing 

 Against this cruelty fight on thy side, 

 Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! 



 Exit with the child  LEONTES  No, I'll not rear 

 Another's issue. 



 Enter a Servant  Servant  Please your highness, posts 

 From those you sent to the oracle are come 

 An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion, 

 Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed, 

 Hasting to the court. 

 First Lord  So please you, sir, their speed 

 Hath been beyond account. 

 LEONTES  Twenty-three days 

 They have been absent: 'tis good speed; foretells 

 The great Apollo suddenly will have 

 The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords; 

 Summon a session, that we may arraign 

 Our most disloyal lady, for, as she hath 

 Been publicly accused, so shall she have 

 A just and open trial. While she lives 

 My heart will be a burthen to me. Leave me, 

 And think upon my bidding. 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Winter's Tale  | Act 2, Scene 3 

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