The Winter's Tale E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Sovereign
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: Timeless Classic
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 132

Beschreibung

Polixenes is visiting the kingdom of Sicilia, and is enjoying catching up with his old friend. However, after nine months, Polixenes yearns to return to his own kingdom to tend to affairs and see his son. Leontes desperately attempts to get Polixenes to stay longer, but is unsuccessful. Leontes then decides to send his wife, Queen Hermione, to try to convince Polixenes. Hermione agrees and with three short speeches is successful. Leontes is puzzled as to how Hermione convinced Polixenes so easily, and Leontes suddenly goes insane and suspects that his pregnant wife has been having an affair with Polixenes and that the child is a bastard.

Leseprobe

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

The Winter’s Tale

LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

New Edition

Published by Sovereign Classic

www.sovereignclassic.net

This Edition

First published in 2015

Copyright © 2015 Sovereign Classic

Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I

ACT II

ACT III

ACT IV

ACT V

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Leontes,King of Sicilia

Mamillius,young Prince of Sicilia

Camillo, Antigonus, Cleomenes, Dion,four lords of Sicilia

Hermione,Queen to Leontes

Perdita,Daughter to Leontes and Hermione

Paulina,Wife to Antigonus

Emilia,a lady

Polixenes,King of Bohemia

Florizel,Prince of Bohemia

Old Shepherd,reputed father of Perdita

Clown his son

Autolycus,a rogue

Archidamus,a lord of Bohemia

Mopsa, Dorcas, shepherdesses

Other Lords and Gentlemen and Servants

Shepherds and Shepherdesses

A Mariner

A Gaoler

Ladies attending the Queen

Satyrs for a dance

Time,as Chorus

Scene:Sicilia and Bohemia

ACT I

SCENE I. ANTECHAMBER IN LEONTES’ PALACE.

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS

ARCHIDAMUS

If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, onthe like occasion whereon my services are now onfoot, you shall see, as I have said, greatdifference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

CAMILLO

I think, this coming summer, the King of Siciliameans to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

ARCHIDAMUS

Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will bejustified in our loves; for indeed--

CAMILLO

Beseech you,--

ARCHIDAMUS

Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge:we cannot with such magnificence--in so rare--I knownot what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks,that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience,may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuseus.

CAMILLO

You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.

ARCHIDAMUS

Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs meand as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

CAMILLO

Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia.They were trained together in their childhoods; andthere rooted betwixt them then such an affection,which cannot choose but branch now. Since theirmore mature dignities and royal necessities madeseparation of their society, their encounters,though not personal, have been royally attorneyedwith interchange of gifts, letters, lovingembassies; that they have seemed to be together,though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, andembraced, as it were, from the ends of opposedwinds. The heavens continue their loves!

ARCHIDAMUS

I think there is not in the world either malice ormatter to alter it. You have an unspeakablecomfort of your young prince Mamillius: it is agentleman of the greatest promise that ever cameinto my note.

CAMILLO

I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: itis a gallant child; one that indeed physics thesubject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went oncrutches ere he was born desire yet their life tosee him a man.

ARCHIDAMUS

Would they else be content to die?

CAMILLO

Yes; if there were no other excuse why they shoulddesire to live.

ARCHIDAMUS

If the king had no son, they would desire to liveon crutches till he had one.

Exeunt

SCENE II. A room of state in the same.

Enter LEONTES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, POLIXENES, CAMILLO, and Attendants

POLIXENES

Nine changes of the watery star hath beenThe shepherd’s note since we have left our throneWithout a burthen: time as long againWould be find up, my brother, with our thanks;And yet we should, for perpetuity,Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher,Yet standing in rich place, I multiplyWith one ‘We thank you’ many thousands moeThat go before it.

LEONTES

Stay your thanks a while;And pay them when you part.

POLIXENES

Sir, that’s to-morrow.I am question’d by my fears, of what may chanceOr breed upon our absence; that may blowNo sneaping winds at home, to make us say‘This is put forth too truly:’ besides, I have stay’dTo tire your royalty.

LEONTES

We are tougher, brother,Than you can put us to’t.

POLIXENES

No longer stay.

LEONTES

One seven-night longer.

POLIXENES

Very sooth, to-morrow.

LEONTES

We’ll part the time between’s then; and in thatI’ll no gainsaying.

POLIXENES

Press me not, beseech you, so.There is no tongue that moves, none, none i’ the world,So soon as yours could win me: so it should now,Were there necessity in your request, although‘Twere needful I denied it. My affairsDo even drag me homeward: which to hinderWere in your love a whip to me; my stayTo you a charge and trouble: to save both,Farewell, our brother.

LEONTES

Tongue-tied, our queen?speak you.

HERMIONE

I had thought, sir, to have held my peace untilYou have drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,Charge him too coldly. Tell him, you are sureAll in Bohemia’s well; this satisfactionThe by-gone day proclaim’d: say this to him,He’s beat from his best ward.

LEONTES

Well said, Hermione.

HERMIONE

To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong:But let him say so then, and let him go;But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,We’ll thwack him hence with distaffs.Yet of your royal presence I’ll adventureThe borrow of a week. When at BohemiaYou take my lord, I’ll give him my commissionTo let him there a month behind the gestPrefix’d for’s parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,I love thee not a jar o’ the clock behindWhat lady-she her lord. You’ll stay?

POLIXENES

No, madam.

HERMIONE

Nay, but you will?

POLIXENES

I may not, verily.

HERMIONE

Verily!You put me off with limber vows; but I,Though you would seek to unsphere thestars with oaths,Should yet say ‘Sir, no going.’ Verily,You shall not go: a lady’s ‘Verily’ ‘sAs potent as a lord’s. Will you go yet?Force me to keep you as a prisoner,Not like a guest; so you shall pay your feesWhen you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread ‘Verily,’One of them you shall be.

POLIXENES

Your guest, then, madam:To be your prisoner should import offending;Which is for me less easy to commitThan you to punish.

HERMIONE

Not your gaoler, then,But your kind hostess. Come, I’ll question youOf my lord’s tricks and yours when you were boys:You were pretty lordings then?

POLIXENES

We were, fair queen,Two lads that thought there was no more behindBut such a day to-morrow as to-day,And to be boy eternal.

HERMIONE

Was not my lordThe verier wag o’ the two?

POLIXENES

We were as twinn’d lambs that did frisk i’ the sun,And bleat the one at the other: what we changedWas innocence for innocence; we knew notThe doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream’dThat any did. Had we pursued that life,And our weak spirits ne’er been higher rear’dWith stronger blood, we should have answer’d heavenBoldly ‘not guilty;’ the imposition clear’dHereditary ours.

HERMIONE

By this we gatherYou have tripp’d since.

POLIXENES

O my most sacred lady!Temptations have since then been born to’s; forIn those unfledged days was my wife a girl;Your precious self had then not cross’d the eyesOf my young play-fellow.

HERMIONE

Grace to boot!Of this make no conclusion, lest you sayYour queen and I are devils: yet go on;The offences we have made you do we’ll answer,If you first sinn’d with us and that with usYou did continue fault and that you slipp’d notWith any but with us.

LEONTES

Is he won yet?

HERMIONE

He’ll stay my lord.

LEONTES

At my request he would not.Hermione, my dearest, thou never spokestTo better purpose.

HERMIONE

Never?

LEONTES

Never, but once.

HERMIONE

What! have I twice said well? when was’t before?I prithee tell me; cram’s with praise, and make’sAs fat as tame things: one good deed dying tonguelessSlaughters a thousand waiting upon that.Our praises are our wages: you may ride’sWith one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ereWith spur we beat an acre. But to the goal:My last good deed was to entreat his stay:What was my first? it has an elder sister,Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!But once before I spoke to the purpose: when?Nay, let me have’t; I long.

LEONTES

Why, that was whenThree crabbed months had sour’d themselves to death,Ere I could make thee open thy white handAnd clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter‘I am yours for ever.’

HERMIONE

‘Tis grace indeed.Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice:The one for ever earn’d a royal husband;The other for some while a friend.

LEONTES

[Aside] Too hot, too hot!To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;But not for joy; not joy. This entertainmentMay a free face put on, derive a libertyFrom heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,And well become the agent; ‘t may, I grant;But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,As now they are, and making practised smiles,As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as ‘twereThe mort o’ the deer; O, that is entertainmentMy bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,Art thou my boy?

MAMILLIUS

Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES

I’ fecks!Why, that’s my bawcock. What, hastsmutch’d thy nose?They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain,We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:And yet the steer, the heifer and the calfAre all call’d neat.--Still virginallingUpon his palm!--How now, you wanton calf!Art thou my calf?

MAMILLIUS

Yes, if you will, my lord.

LEONTES

Thou want’st a rough pash and the shoots that I have,To be full like me: yet they say we areAlmost as like as eggs; women say so,That will say anything but were they falseAs o’er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, falseAs dice are to be wish’d by one that fixesNo bourn ‘twixt his and mine, yet were it trueTo say this boy were like me. Come, sir page,Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain!Most dear’st! my collop! Can thy dam?--may’t be?--Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:Thou dost make possible things not so held,Communicatest with dreams;--how can this be?--With what’s unreal thou coactive art,And fellow’st nothing: then ‘tis very credentThou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost,And that beyond commission, and I find it,And that to the infection of my brainsAnd hardening of my brows.

POLIXENES

What means Sicilia?

HERMIONE

He something seems unsettled.

POLIXENES

How, my lord!What cheer? how is’t with you, best brother?

HERMIONE

You look as if you held a brow of much distractionAre you moved, my lord?

LEONTES

No, in good earnest.How sometimes nature will betray its folly,Its tenderness, and make itself a pastimeTo harder bosoms! Looking on the linesOf my boy’s face, methoughts I did recoilTwenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech’d,In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled,Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,As ornaments oft do, too dangerous:How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend,Will you take eggs for money?

MAMILLIUS

No, my lord, I’ll fight.

LEONTES

You will! why, happy man be’s dole! My brother,Are you so fond of your young prince as weDo seem to be of ours?

POLIXENES

If at home, sir,He’s all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:He makes a July’s day short as December,And with his varying childness cures in meThoughts that would thick my blood.

LEONTES

So stands this squireOfficed with me: we two will walk, my lord,And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione,How thou lovest us, show in our brother’s welcome;Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap:Next to thyself and my young rover, he’sApparent to my heart.

HERMIONE

If you would seek us,We are yours i’ the garden: shall’s attend you there?

LEONTES

To your own bents dispose you: you’ll be found,Be you beneath the sky.

Aside

I am angling now,Though you perceive me not how I give line.Go to, go to!How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!And arms her with the boldness of a wifeTo her allowing husband!

Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants

Gone already!Inch-thick, knee-deep, o’er head andears a fork’d one!Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and IPlay too, but so disgraced a part, whose issueWill hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamourWill be my knell. Go, play, boy, play.There have been,Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;And many a man there is, even at this present,Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,That little thinks she has been sluiced in’s absenceAnd his pond fish’d by his next neighbour, bySir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there’s comfort in’tWhiles other men have gates and those gates open’d,As mine, against their will. Should all despairThat have revolted wives, the tenth of mankindWould hang themselves. Physic for’t there is none;It is a bawdy planet, that will strikeWhere ‘tis predominant; and ‘tis powerful, think it,From east, west, north and south: be it concluded,No barricado for a belly; know’t;It will let in and out the enemyWith bag and baggage: many thousand on’sHave the disease, and feel’t not. How now, boy!

MAMILLIUS

I am like you, they say.

LEONTES

Why that’s some comfort. What, Camillo there?

CAMILLO

Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES

Go play, Mamillius; thou’rt an honest man.

Exit MAMILLIUS

Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

CAMILLO

You had much ado to make his anchor hold:When you cast out, it still came home.

LEONTES

Didst note it?

CAMILLO

He would not stay at your petitions: madeHis business more material.

LEONTES

Didst perceive it?

Aside

They’re here with me already, whispering, rounding‘Sicilia is a so-forth:’ ‘tis far gone,When I shall gust it last. How came’t, Camillo,That he did stay?

CAMILLO

At the good queen’s entreaty.

LEONTES

At the queen’s be’t: ‘good’ should be pertinentBut, so it is, it is not. Was this takenBy any understanding pate but thine?For thy conceit is soaking, will draw inMore than the common blocks: not noted, is’t,But of the finer natures? by some severalsOf head-piece extraordinary? lower messesPerchance are to this business purblind? say.

CAMILLO

Business, my lord! I think most understandBohemia stays here longer.

LEONTES

Ha!

CAMILLO

Stays here longer.

LEONTES

Ay, but why?

CAMILLO

To satisfy your highness and the entreatiesOf our most gracious mistress.

LEONTES

Satisfy!The entreaties of your mistress! satisfy!Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,With all the nearest things to my heart, as wellMy chamber-councils, wherein, priest-like, thouHast cleansed my bosom, I from thee departedThy penitent r