Characters

The cast of The Winter's Tale

The people who make The Winter's Tale move — what they want, who they love, who they hate, and how each one fits the story. Tap any name to read more.

Married to Paulinas

Antigonus

Loyal courtier forced to execute a tyrant's cruel command; tragic instrument of separation · Middle-aged

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The Clown

Comic servant and son of the Shepherd; a man newly elevated to gentlemanhood · Young man

Son of Polixenes, king of Bohemias

Florizel

Prince of Bohemia; a young man of constancy and feeling, willing to sacrifice rank for love · Young adult

Husband: Leontes; Son: Mamillius; Daughter: Perditas

Hermione

Queen of Sicilia; victim of her husband's jealousy and the play's moral center · Royal consort; appears mature

Husband of Hermione; father of Mamillius and Perditas

Leontes

Jealous tyrant; King of Sicilia whose baseless suspicion destroys his family and kingdom · Middle-aged (implied); sixteen years older by Act 5

father: Leontes; mother: Hermiones

Mamillius

Young prince of Sicilia; innocent victim of his father's jealous madness · a child

Widow of Antigonus

Paulina

Hermione's fierce advocate and keeper of secrets; the conscience of the court who transforms into architect of redemption · Middle-aged to elderly

father; mother; brother (deceased); foster fathers

Perdita

The lost princess raised as a shepherd's daughter; embodies natural grace and moral clarity · sixteen

Florizels

Polixenes, King of Bohemia

Wronged friend and father; catalyst of tragedy and restoration · Middle-aged

son; foster-daughters

The Shepherd

A humble countryman who finds and raises the exposed princess Perdita · eighty-three

Other characters

Autolycus

A roguish peddler and thief; trickster and agent of fortune

Camillo

Leontes' counselor and agent of redemption; a man of integrity caught between obedience and conscience

First Lord

Leontes' courtier and voice of reason; witness to the king's jealous collapse

Mopsa

Shepherdess and dancer at the Sheep-Shearing Feast

Dorcas

Shepherdess and singer at the sheep-shearing feast

Servant

Messenger and attendant in the royal palace

Archidamus

Bohemian courtier and ambassador of goodwill

Cleomenes

Oracle messenger and voice of consolation

First Gentleman

Courtly messenger and witness to miraculous reunions

Gaoler

Prison keeper; minor official bound by the king's command

Third Gentleman

Courtly messenger and narrator of the statue's revelation
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