History Theatre / TheWintersTale

* LighterAndSofter: The primary source for the plot was Robert Greene's ''Pandosto''. Shakespeare removed the dark plot points in which Pandosto (Leontes) unwittingly lusted after his own daughter Fawnia (Perdita) and tried to separate her from Dorastus (Florizel) before killing himself in remorse at the end of the story, and added the resurrection of Queen Hermione (whose equivalent character from the original, Bellaria, stayed dead.)

Leontes' other child, prince Mamillius, dies because he has been separated from his mother, and soon after, Hermione dies as well. Leontes realizes his error, and decides to grieve his family for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Antigonus bemoans his job, but leaves the infant Perdita in a wild area of Bohemia, before being [[ExitPursuedByABear devoured by a bear]]. A shepherd and his son find the baby and resolve to care for her.

[[TimeSkip Flashforward sixteen years!]] Time itself comes onstage to tell the audience that Florizel, Polixenes's son, has fallen for Perdita (who knows nothing of her royal heritage). His father is none-too-pleased and decides to spy on them at a sheep-shearing festival. Florizel, after being confronted by his father, flees with Perdita to Sicilia, and everyone (including LovableRogue Autolycus) pursues. There, Perdita's heritage is revealed. Father and daughter reunite, just as a statue of Hermione is brought onstage. Amazingly, the statue comes to life, and so the happy family is together once more. [[note]]Except Mamillius, he kinda gets screwed.[[/note]] Autolycus becomes the servant of Perdita's foster father, and all loose ends are tied up nicely.

* AerithAndBob: Paulina and her husband Antigonus (and the king Leontes, and the other king Polixenes, etc etc etc)

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Paulina tries to invoke this, taking the newborn baby princess to Leontes in the hope his heart will soften. He refuses to see the baby, and orders her killed.

* GreenEyedMonster: The explanation for Leontes' behaviour, though even that doesn't excuse the stuff he pulls.
* KangarooCourt: Hermione's trial starts out with Leontes declaring that he wants a fair and open process, but when all the evidence goes against him he arbitrarily declares Hermione guilty regardless.

** The oracle of Apollo delivers an uncharacteristically clear message, stating explicitly and in detail that Leontes' suspicious are baseless and all the people he's accused are innocent, and warning of dire consequences if he persists. Despite having promised to abide by the oracle's pronouncement, Leontes declares that he doesn't believe it and orders the KangarooCourt to proceed -- and immediately a messenger arrives to announce the beginning of the dire consequence.

** Perdita comes from the Latin word for "lost"; the meaning of the name is intentional in-universe as well, since she is only named after her father has ordered her banishment.
** In Greek mythology, Autolycus was son of Hermes, god of thieves, and was a well-known crook.

** Perdita's reunion with her father as well as the resolving of many of the plots takes place entirely off screen, and instead we have a conversation between a few gentlemen, one of which notes [[LampshadeHanging how amazing it was and how it would have been a shame to miss it]].

* UndyingLoyalty: Paulina to Hermione. In her eyes no woman in the ''world'' was her equal and ''no'' amount of repentance from Leontes would be enough to make up for what he did to her.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Getting a bear for that one infamous exit wouldn't be too difficult for a Tudor/Stuart-era theatre company as bear-baiting was popular at the time. Unfortunately, we have no evidence one way or another whether an actual bear was used, or whether it was just a costumed actor.

** The oracle of Apollo delivers an uncharacteristically clear message, stating explicitly and in detail that Leontes' suspicious are baseless and all the people he's accused are innocent, and warning of dire consequences if he persists. Despite having promised to abide by the oracle's pronouncement, Leontes declares that he doesn't believe it and orders the KangarooCourt to proceed -- and immediately a messenger arrives to announce the beginning of the dire consequence.

* OneMarioLimit: Readers new to the story for the past two decades come with a strong association of the name "Hermione" to [[Literature/HarryPotter an altogether more modern piece of British literature]]. In reality she was probably named after a character from Myth/ClassicalMythology, the daughter of Helen of Troy. Many Shakespeare professors have noted that they have at least been relieved of the need to explain the pronunciation of the name to their students.

** After the bear chases Antigonus off-stage, we get a conversation between too shepherds with one telling the other in lavish detail how he just saw a man being torn apart by a bear.

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Paulina tries to invoke this. It's hard on the baby.

* BearsAreBadNews

* DeusExMachina: The Oracle's uncharacteristically straightforward prophecy is all it takes for Leontes to realize his error. Hermione being alive.

* KangarooCourt: Hermione's trial.

* LovableRogue: Autolycus

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Leontes suspects the paternity of both his son and his daughter

* MeaningfulName: Perdita comes from the Latin word for "lost." In Greek mythology, Autolycus was son of Hermes, god of thieves, and was a well-known crook.

* MosesInTheBulrushes: Perdita

* PairTheSpares: Paulina & Camillo.

* RagsToRoyalty

* SecondHandStorytelling: Perdita's reunion with her father as well as the resolving of many of the plots takes place entirely off screen, and instead we have a conversation between a few gentlemen, one of which notes [[LampshadeHanging how amazing it was and how it would have been a shame to miss it]].

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Don't confuse it with]] the 1983 novel ''Literature/WintersTale'' and its [[FilmOfTheBook 2014 film adaptation]], or with the 1992 French film ''Film/ATaleOfWinter''.

* OneMarioLimit: Readers new to the story for the past decade come with a strong association of the name "Hermione" to [[Literature/HarryPotter an altogether more modern piece of British literature]]. In reality she was probably named after a character from Myth/ClassicalMythology, the daughter of Helen of Troy. Many Shakespeare professors have noted that they have at least been relieved of the need to explain the pronunciation of the name to their students.

* {{Arcadia}}: Bohemia, where it is always spring, unlike wintry Sicilia.

* DeusExMachina: Hermione being alive.

* YouFailGeographyForever: Ben Jonson's reaction to the "seacoast of Bohemia," was more or less this (Bohemia is more or less where the Czech Republic is right now). Debate rages about whether Shakespeare was trying to get someone's goat with that or not. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter%27s_Tale#The_seacoast_of_Bohemia The Other Wiki]] offers various explanations for this geographical error, one being that in the past the lands of Bohemia did border the Adriatic coast. Alternately, it's a way of saying "This story is set nowhere real".

It is believed to be one of Shakespeare's last plays; although there is no firm evidence as to when it was first staged, the earliest references to performances of ''The Winter's Tale'' date to 1611. The play is famous for a number of things: the vast difference in tone between the first part, which plays out like a tragedy, and the second part, which is more of a pastoral comedy; the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane scene at the end, where Hermione's statue comes to life; the name Hermione, which became famous in [[Literature/HarryPotter a certain book series]]; and of course, the proof that even Shakespeare knew BearsAreBadNews.

* ExitPursuedByABear: Antigonus is pursued and torn apart by a bear after abandoning Perdita in the wilderness.

The play is famous for a number of things: the vast difference in tone between the first part, which plays out like a tragedy, and the second part, which is more of a pastoral comedy; the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane scene at the end, where Hermione's statue comes to life; the name Hermione, which became famous in [[Literature/HarryPotter a certain book series]]; and of course, the proof that even Shakespeare knew BearsAreBadNews.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Getting a bear for that one infamous exit wouldn't be too difficult for a Tudor/Stuart-era theatre company as bear-baiting was popular at the time.

* MosesInTheBulrushes: Perdita

->''A sad tale's best for winter...''

* YouFailGeographyForever: Ben Jonson's reaction to the "seacoast of Bohemia," was more or less this (Bohemia is more or less where the Czech Republic is right now). Debate rages about whether Shakespeare was trying to get someone's goat with that, or if he [[TheyJustDidntCare Just Didn't Care]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter%27s_Tale#The_seacoast_of_Bohemia The Other Wiki]] offers various explanations for this geographical error, one being that in the past the lands of Bohemia did border the Adriatic coast. Alternately, it's a way of saying "This story is set nowhere real".