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Why does Leontes order Polixenes’s death and Perdita’s banishment?
Leontes orders the death of Polixenes because he believes the king of Bohemia has been having an affair with his wife, Hermione. The Sicilian king doesn’t have any hard evidence of adultery. Instead, he allows the friendly banter between Polixenes and Hermione to activate his jealousy. As his madness mounts, Leontes comes to believe that the child Hermione is about to deliver must belong to Polixenes, who has been at court for nine months. Spinning further into jealousy, Leontes convinces himself that Polixenes must also have fathered Mamillius. Now fully outraged, he orders Camillo to poison Polixenes, and he sends Antigonus to abandon the newborn child in the Bohemian wilderness.
How does Perdita survive?
Perdita survives through the kindness of a Bohemian shepherd and his son, who find her abandoned in the wilderness and decide to adopt her. Her survival is remarkable, given the circumstances. As Antigonus deposits her in the wilderness, a terrible winter storm is mounting, which causes the ship he arrived to be dashed to pieces. Meanwhile, Antigonus has the misfortune of encountering a bear, which chases him from the child’s side and soon manages to kill him. Amid such dramatic action, the Shepherd and the Shepherd’s Son discover the bundled child and rescue her. Though they do so out of the goodness of their hearts, they are also motivated by the gold-filled “fardel” (i.e., bundle) they find near her.
Why does Polixenes threaten the Shepherd, Florizell, and Perdita?
Polixenes becomes enraged while speaking to his son Florizell during the country sheep-shearing festival. At this point, both men are in disguise, so while Polixenes knows that he’s speaking to his son, Florizell doesn’t know that he’s being addressed by his father. Polixenes knows that Florizell has been courting a country girl, but this alone isn’t enough to enrage him. He’s more concerned with knowing why his son has kept the courtship a secret. Things come to a head when Polixenes asks if Florizell should invite his father to his wedding, and Florizell says he has his reasons for not doing so. Furious at the deceit and betrayal, Polixenes both reveals his own identity and outs his son. To punish his son, Polixenes threatens him as well as Perdita and her adoptive father.
Why does Camillo help plan Florizell and Perdita’s escape?
Camillo helps plan Florizell and Perdita’s escape because it presents him with an opportunity to return to Sicilia. After sixteen years away, Camillo longs for home. He knows that Leontes has long been penitent for his actions, and so he asks Polixenes permission to leave his service. But Polixenes deflects and asks Camillo to go with him to find his son Florizell in the country. After Polixenes falls into a rage at the sheep-shearing, Camillo sees an opportunity. He arranges for Florizell and Perdita to flee to Sicilia, all the while planning to betray that plan to Polixenes, whom he knows will rush off in pursuit of his son. In this way, Camillo will also be able to return home.
How does Hermione come back to life?
Hermione’s resurrection in the play’s final scene is slightly ambiguous. To Leontes and the others present for the scene, the dead queen’s resurrection appears to be a miracle in which a stone statue with Hermione’s likeness magically transforms into living flesh. However, for the audience, this miracle seems to have been staged by Paulina. Recall that Paulina is the only one to have witnessed Hermione’s death, which occurred offstage. It’s therefore possible to infer that Paulina has kept Hermione hidden away for sixteen years, only apparently dead. Thus, when she presents the painted “statue” of Hermione, it’s really the queen all along.
