In Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Hermione's “death” catalyzes the narrative development. Quantitatively, she plays little role beyond the first three acts, but the play revolves and ends up uniting around her. It is, initially, his perceived flirtation with Polixenes that triggers Leontes' jealous rage and sets off the main chain of events in the play. Hermione's rhetorical wordplay and use of the word "Prisoner" (1.2.52) presents a familiar and perhaps even slightly flirtatious character. The sentiment of Hermione wooing Polixenes to stay is echoed by Leontes and juxtaposed with Leontes' attempts of "three grumpy months" (1.2.103) to woo Hermione. One can almost feel the bitterness creeping into Leontes' words, emphasized by the plosive sound and implied meaning of "crab." Additionally, its three-month timeline contrasts with the relative speed with which Hermione persuades Polixenes to stay. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Later, as she is about to be imprisoned, her vivacity is diminished, but Shakespeare exhibits her determination, wit, and strength of character. She repeatedly refuses to condemn Leontes as a villain, instead declaring with absolute faithfulness: "You, my lord, / Make only mistakes..." (2.1.80-81), and later: "You have makes mistakes” (2.1.99). ). Leontes' actions cause uproar within the court and protests among the attendants. The sense of injustice is aggravated by Hermione's pregnancy, and it is from Leontes' disposition towards their baby that the main substance of the later acts emerges in Shakespeare's deviation from Pandosto's tragic model . The passion with which Hermione speaks during the trial scene is also particularly distressing. Part of this effect is due to the delicacy of the imagery: “My life is on the level of your dreams, / Which I will lay down…” (3.2.81-82); this phrase evokes WB Yeats: “I have spread my dreams under your feet / Walk gently because you walk on my dreams. » Hermione's dignity is evident as she details the wrongs committed against her: the loss of Leontes' "favour", the refusal of the "firstfruits of [her] body" from Mamillius and the title of "Trumpet" granted by Leontes (3.2.94-102). These wrongs once again put her at the absolute center of the story and its subsequent progression. It is only Mamillius' death and Hermione's own "death" that sparks remorse in Leontes and changes the power dynamic within their relationship. His earlier dispatch of Antigone with what he believes to be a bastard child was also, essentially, an attempt at vicarious infanticide. It is important to note that it is this female child who will grow up to unite the two kingdoms through the political alliance of marriage; coupled with Hermione's resuscitation, it led to the play's critical designation as a tragicomedy, or more frequently as a romance. Perdita's role is relatively marginal (and considered marginal until the denouement), although she is, in fact, the crucial reconciling link uniting the pastoral and the urban. Additionally, the character responsible for Hermione's resurrection and the person who orchestrates her absence occupies another marginal female role: that of Paulina, who is initially Hermione's most vocal defender. The idea of ​​a revelatory female intervention in the narrative is by no means uncommon; we see him in a slightly altered form at the conclusion of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Morgan Le Fay is invoked as a cause of action in the poem: "She sent me to do.