The Winter's Tale
1623
The Winter's Tale
1623
The Winter's Tale begins as a devastating study of jealousy so irrational it destroys everything Leontes loves. The King of Sicilia, certain without evidence that his wife Hermione has betrayed him with his closest friend Polixenes, unravels his family with terrifying speed. A wife publicly humiliated. A son who dies of grief. An infant daughter cast out to die on a foreign shore. Shakespeare maps the precise moment when a reasonable man becomes a monster, all because he chooses to believe his own fears. But this is not a tragedy. Sixteen years later, in the pastoral hills of Bohemia, a shepherdess named Perdita falls in love with a prince, and the gears of fate begin their slow, miraculous work. The final act offers something rare in literature: an unconditional resurrection. A statue that breathes. A grief so old it has become wisdom. This is Shakespeare grown old and gentle, writing toward grace.
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“Exit, pursued by a bear.””
— William Shakespeare
“A sad tale's best for winter: I have one of sprites and goblins.””
— William Shakespeare
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.””
— William Shakespeare
“I do feel it gone, But know not how it went””
— William Shakespeare
“What a fool honesty is.””
— William Shakespeare
“It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in't.””
— William Shakespeare
“I have drunk and seen the spider.””
— William Shakespeare
“a wild dedication of yourselvesTo undiscovered waters, undreamed shores.””
— William Shakespeare
“There's some ill planet reigns:I must be patient till the heavens lookWith an aspect more favourable. Good my lords,I am not prone to weeping, as our sexCommonly are; the want of which vain dewPerchance shall dry your pities: but I haveThat honourable grief lodged here which burnsWorse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords,With thoughts so qualified as your charitiesShall best instruct you, measure me; and soThe king's will be perform'd!””
— William Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-winter-s-tale-3e05833b-d926-4bc7-8b78-352b0f001a54.Shakespeare, W. (1623). The Winter's Tale. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-winter-s-tale-3e05833b-d926-4bc7-8b78-352b0f001a54Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-winter-s-tale-3e05833b-d926-4bc7-8b78-352b0f001a54.
