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proclamation, which declares that “Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject” and that Leontes is “a jealous tyrant.” Everyone is relieved, but Leontes declares the proclamation to be a “falsehood” and insists that the trial continue. As he does so, a servant brings the news that Mamillius is dead. Suddenly, Leontes sees that he has been wrong and unjust: Mamillius’ death is Apollo’s judgment upon him. Hermione faints and is carried out as Leontes declares that he has “too much believed [his] own suspicion.”
    Lines 164–260: As Leontes realizes the full extent of his wrongs, Paulina launches an attack on the “tyranny” and “jealousies” that have led Leontes to betray Polixenes and poison “Camillo’s honour.” She reminds him that he has cast “forth to the crows” his baby daughter and that his son is dead, before revealing that Hermione has also died. She tells Leontes to “despair,” as no amount of prayer will “move the gods” to look favorably upon him. Leontes accepts Paulina’s criticism, but a Lord tells her to “Say no more.” Paulina relents when she sees that Leontes “is touched / To th’noble heart” and asks him to forgive her. She promises never to speak again of Hermione or the children, or of Antigonus, whom she says is “lost too.” Leontes replies that he prefers her to speak the truth than to show him pity. He declares that Hermione and Mamillius are to be buried together and that he will mourn them daily.
ACT 3 SCENE 3
    This scene is pivotal, marking a shift in action from Sicilia to Bohemia, court to country, and tragedy to comedy.
    Lines 1–61: Antigonus, carrying the baby, arrives on the shores of Bohemia. The mariner who has brought him returns to the ship, warning Antigonus that there is a storm brewing and that the coastline is “famous” for predatory animals. Antigonus addresses thebaby gently, telling her that he had a dream in which Hermione’s ghost appeared to him. The ghost told him that the baby was to be called Perdita, and that he was to leave her in Bohemia. For his role in “this ungentle business” he is destined never to see Paulina again. He believes Hermione must have died and that Perdita must be the “issue” of Polixenes after all. Although his “heart bleeds,” he bids Perdita farewell. The storm increases and Antigonus hears a roar. He exits, pursued by a bear.
    Lines 62–128: A Shepherd enters, and a change is immediately apparent through his gently humorous ramblings in prose that contrast with Antigonus’ tragic blank verse. He is considering the problems of adolescence, such as “getting wenches with child,” when he finds Perdita. He assumes that she is the result of an affair, “some behind-door-work,” an ironic echo of Leontes’ earlier suspicions. He picks up the baby and waits for his son, the Clown. The Clown arrives and gives a muddled account of the shipwreck and Antigonus being killed by the bear, rendering these tragic events comic through his confusion. The Shepherd comments that while his son “met’st with things dying,” he himself met “with things newborn,” emphasizing the play’s shift away from tragedy and death to comedy and regeneration. They find clothes that suggest the baby’s high status, and also gold, which they believe has been left by the fairies with the “changeling” child. They decide to keep the baby and the gold, and to bury the remains of Antigonus.
ACT 4 SCENE 1
    The meta-theatrical figure of “Time” acts as Chorus, moving the events of the play on by sixteen years.
ACT 4 SCENE 2
    Camillo wishes to return to Sicilia, but Polixenes asks him not to, a conversation that evokes that of Polixenes and Leontes at the beginning of the play, one of several such echoes.