The Winter's Tale (20 page)

POLIXENES
     O, not by much.

PAULINA
     So much the more our carver's excellence.
       Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her
      
As
³⁷
she lived now.

LEONTES
     As now she might have done,
      
So much to my good comfort, as it is
       Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,
       Even with such life of majesty, warm life,
       As now it coldly stands, when first I wooed her!
       I am ashamed. Does not the stone rebuke me
       For being more
stone
⁴⁴
than it? O royal piece,
       There's magic in thy majesty, which has
       My evils conjured to remembrance and
       From thy
admiring
⁴⁷
daughter took the
spirits
,
       Standing like stone with thee.

Kneels before the statue

PERDITA
     And give me leave,
       And do not say 'tis
superstition
⁵⁰
, that
       I kneel and then implore her blessing.— Lady,
       Dear queen, that ended when I but began,
       Give me that hand of yours to kiss.

Prevents Perdita from touching Perdita stands?

PAULINA
     O, patience!
       The statue is but newly
fixed
⁵⁵
; the colour's
           not dry.

CAMILLO
     My lord, your sorrow was too
sore
⁵⁶
laid on,
       Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,
      
So many summers dry
⁵⁸
. Scarce any joy
       Did ever so long live; no sorrow
       But killed itself much sooner.

POLIXENES
     Dear my brother,
       Let him that was the
cause
⁶²
of this have power
       To take off so much grief from you as he
       Will
piece up in
⁶⁴
himself.

PAULINA
     Indeed, my lord,
       If I had thought the sight of my poor image
       Would thus have
wrought
⁶⁷
you — for the stone is mine —
       I'd not have showed it.

LEONTES
     Do not draw the curtain.

PAULINA
     No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your
fancy
⁷⁰
       May think anon it moves.

LEONTES
     Let be, let be.
       Would I were dead, but that methinks already —
       What was he that did make it?— See, my lord,
       Would you not deem it breathed? And that those veins
       Did
verily
⁷⁶
bear blood?

POLIXENES
     Masterly done.
       The very life seems warm upon her lip.

LEONTES
     The
fixture
⁷⁹
of her eye has
motion
in't,
       As we are mocked with art.

PAULINA
     I'll draw the curtain.
       My lord's almost so far
transported
⁸²
that
       He'll think anon it lives.

LEONTES
     O, sweet Paulina,
       Make me to think so twenty years together!
       No
settled senses
⁸⁶
of the world can match
       The pleasure of that madness.
Let't
⁸⁷
alone.

PAULINA
     I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirred you, but
       I could afflict you farther.

LEONTES
     Do, Paulina,
       For this affliction has a taste as sweet
       As any
cordial
⁹²
comfort. Still, methinks
       There is an
air comes from her
⁹³
. What fine chisel
       Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,
       For I will kiss her.

PAULINA
     Good my lord, forbear:
       The
ruddiness
⁹⁷
upon her lip is wet.
       You'll
mar
⁹⁸
it if you kiss it, stain your own
       With oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?

LEONTES
     No, not these twenty years

PERDITA
     So long could I
       Stand by, a looker-on.

PAULINA
     Either
forbear
¹⁰³
,
       Quit
presently
¹⁰⁴
the
chapel
, or
resolve you
       For more amazement. If you can behold it,
       I'll make the statue move indeed, descend
       And take you by the hand. But then you'll think —
       Which I protest against — I am assisted
       By
wicked powers
¹⁰⁹
.

LEONTES
     What you can make her do,
       I am content to look on. What to speak,
       I am content to hear, for 'tis as easy
       To make her speak as move.

PAULINA
     It is required
       You do awake your faith. Then all stand still.
      
On
¹¹⁶
: those that think it is unlawful business
       I am about, let them depart.

LEONTES
     Proceed:
       No foot shall stir.

Hermione comes down Music

To Hermione

PAULINA
     Music; awake her:
strike
¹²⁰
!
       'Tis time: descend: be stone no more: approach:
       Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,
       I'll
fill your grave up
¹²³
. Stir. Nay, come away.
       Bequeath to death your numbness, for from
him
¹²⁴
       Dear life redeems you.— You perceive she stirs.
       Start not. Her actions shall be holy as
       You hear my spell is lawful. Do not shun her
       Until you see her die again,
for then
       You kill her double
¹²⁸
. Nay, present your hand:
       When she was young you wooed her, now in age
      
Is she become the suitor?
¹³¹

LEONTES
     O, she's warm!
Touches her
       If this be magic, let it be an art
       Lawful as eating.

POLIXENES
     She embraces him.

CAMILLO
     She hangs about his neck.
       If she
pertain to life
¹³⁷
let her speak too.

POLIXENES
     Ay, and
make it manifest
¹³⁸
where she has lived,
       Or how stol'n from the dead.

PAULINA
     That she is living,
       Were it but told you, should be
hooted
¹⁴¹
at
       Like an old tale. But it appears she lives,
       Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.—
       Please you to interpose, fair madam. Kneel
To Perdita
       And pray your mother's blessing.— Turn,
To Hermione
           good lady,

       Our Perdita is found.

HERMIONE
     You gods, look down
       And from your sacred vials pour your graces
       Upon my daughter's head!— Tell me, mine own.
       Where hast thou been
preserved
¹⁵⁰
? Where lived? How found
       Thy father's court? For thou shalt hear that I,
       Knowing by Paulina that the oracle
       Gave hope thou wast
in being
¹⁵³
, have preserved
       Myself to see the
issue
¹⁵⁴
.

PAULINA
     There's time enough for that,
       Lest
they desire upon this push to trouble
       Your joys with like relation
¹⁵⁶
. Go together,
       You precious winners all. Your exultation
      
Partake
¹⁵⁹
to every one. I, an old
turtle
,
       Will wing me to some withered bough and there
       My
mate
¹⁶¹
, that's never to be found again,
       Lament till I am
lost
¹⁶²
.

To Hermione, then also Polixenes

LEONTES
     O, peace, Paulina!
       Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
       As I by thine a wife. This is a
match
¹⁶⁵
,
      
And made
between's
¹⁶⁶
by vows. Thou hast found mine —
       But how, is to be questioned, for I saw her,
       As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many
       A prayer upon her grave. I'll not seek far —
      
For
¹⁷⁰
him, I partly know his mind — to find thee
       An honourable husband.— Come, Camillo,
       And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
       Is richly noted and here
justified
¹⁷³
       By us, a pair of kings.— Let's from this place.—
       What? Look upon my brother.— Both your
           pardons,
       That e'er I put between your holy looks
       My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,
       And son unto the king, whom, heavens directing,
       Is
troth-plight
¹⁷⁹
to your daughter.— Good Paulina,
       Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely
       Each one
demand
¹⁸¹
, and answer to his part
       Performed in this wide gap of time since first
       We were
dissevered
¹⁸³
. Hastily, lead away.
Exeunt