Act V · Scene III
A chapel in PAULINA'S house.
Hover a speech to translate it — or press play to hear it performed.
Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants
LEONTES
O grave and good Paulina, the great comfortThat I have had of thee!
PAULINA
What, sovereign sir,I did not well I meant well. All my servicesYou have paid home: but that you have vouchsafed,With your crown'd brother and these your contractedHeirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,It is a surplus of your grace, which neverMy life may last to answer.
LEONTES
O Paulina,We honour you with trouble: but we cameTo see the statue of our queen: your galleryHave we pass'd through, not without much contentIn many singularities; but we saw notThat which my daughter came to look upon,The statue of her mother.
PAULINA
As she lived peerless,So her dead likeness, I do well believe,Excels whatever yet you look'd uponOr hand of man hath done; therefore I keep itLonely, apart. But here it is: prepareTo see the life as lively mock'd as everStill sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well.
PAULINA draws a curtain, and discovers HERMIONE standing like a statue
PAULINA
I like your silence, it the more shows offYour wonder: but yet speak; first, you, my liege,Comes it not something near?
LEONTES
Her natural posture!Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeedThou art Hermione; or rather, thou art sheIn thy not chiding, for she was as tenderAs infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothingSo aged as this seems.
POLIXENES
O, not by much.
PAULINA
So much the more our carver's excellence;Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes herAs she lived now.
LEONTES
As now she might have done,So much to my good comfort, as it isNow piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,Even with such life of majesty, warm life,As now it coldly stands, when first I woo'd her!I am ashamed: does not the stone rebuke meFor being more stone than it? O royal piece,There's magic in thy majesty, which hasMy evils conjured to remembrance andFrom thy admiring daughter took the spirits,Standing like stone with thee.
PERDITA
And give me leave,And do not say 'tis superstition, thatI kneel and then implore her blessing. Lady,Dear queen, that ended when I but began,Give me that hand of yours to kiss.
PAULINA
O, patience!The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's Not dry.
CAMILLO
My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,So many summers dry; scarce any joyDid ever so long live; no sorrowBut kill'd itself much sooner.
POLIXENES
Dear my brother,Let him that was the cause of this have powerTo take off so much grief from you as heWill piece up in himself.
PAULINA
Indeed, my lord,If I had thought the sight of my poor imageWould thus have wrought you,--for the stone is mine--I'ld not have show'd it.
LEONTES
Do not draw the curtain.
PAULINA
No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancyMay 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 veinsDid verily bear blood?
POLIXENES
Masterly done:The very life seems warm upon her lip.
LEONTES
The fixture of her eye has motion in't,As we are mock'd with art.
PAULINA
I'll draw the curtain:My lord's almost so far transported thatHe'll think anon it lives.
LEONTES
O sweet Paulina,Make me to think so twenty years together!No settled senses of the world can matchThe pleasure of that madness. Let 't alone.
PAULINA
I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr'd you: butI could afflict you farther.
LEONTES
Do, Paulina;For this affliction has a taste as sweetAs any cordial comfort. Still, methinks,There is an air comes from her: what fine chiselCould ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,For I will kiss her.
PAULINA
Good my lord, forbear:The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;You'll mar it if you kiss it, stain your ownWith oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?
LEONTES
No, not these twenty years.
PERDITA
So long could IStand by, a looker on.
PAULINA
Either forbear,Quit presently the chapel, or resolve youFor more amazement. If you can behold it,I'll make the statue move indeed, descendAnd take you by the hand; but then you'll think--Which I protest against--I am assistedBy wicked powers.
LEONTES
What you can make her do,I am content to look on: what to speak,I am content to hear; for 'tis as easyTo make her speak as move.
PAULINA
It is requiredYou do awake your faith. Then all stand still;On: those that think it is unlawful businessI am about, let them depart.
LEONTES
Proceed:No foot shall stir.
PAULINA
Music, awake her; strike!
Music
PAULINA
'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,I'll fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away,Bequeath to death your numbness, for from himDear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs:
HERMIONE comes down
PAULINA
Start not; her actions shall be holy asYou hear my spell is lawful: do not shun herUntil you see her die again; for thenYou kill her double. Nay, present your hand:When she was young you woo'd her; now in ageIs she become the suitor?
LEONTES
O, she's warm!If this be magic, let it be an artLawful as eating.
POLIXENES
She embraces him.
CAMILLO
She hangs about his neck:If she pertain to life let her speak too.
POLIXENES
Ay, and make't manifest where she has lived,Or how stolen from the dead.
PAULINA
That she is living,Were it but told you, should be hooted atLike an old tale: but it appears she lives,Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneelAnd pray your mother's blessing. Turn, good lady;Our Perdita is found.
HERMIONE
You gods, look downAnd from your sacred vials pour your gracesUpon my daughter's head! Tell me, mine own.Where hast thou been preserved? where lived? how foundThy father's court? for thou shalt hear that I,Knowing by Paulina that the oracleGave hope thou wast in being, have preservedMyself to see the issue.
PAULINA
There's time enough for that;Lest they desire upon this push to troubleYour joys with like relation. Go together,You precious winners all; your exultationPartake to every one. I, an old turtle,Will wing me to some wither'd bough and thereMy mate, that's never to be found again,Lament till I am lost.
LEONTES
O, peace, Paulina!Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,As I by thine a wife: this is a match,And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine;But how, is to be question'd; for I saw her,As I thought, dead, and have in vain said manyA prayer upon her grave. I'll not seek far--For him, I partly know his mind--to find theeAn honourable husband. Come, Camillo,And take her by the hand, whose worth and honestyIs richly noted and here justifiedBy 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 looksMy ill suspicion. This is your son-in-law,And son unto the king, who, heavens directing,Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina,Lead us from hence, where we may leisurelyEach one demand an answer to his partPerform'd in this wide gap of time since firstWe were dissever'd: hastily lead away.
Exeunt