English Shakespeare

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from Leontes' court.
At the royal court, Hermione plays with Mamillius when Leontes enters, hearing that Camillo has left with Polixenes. Leontes wrongly determines that Camillo had been working for Polixenes for a long time, then accuses Hermione of being unfaithful and sends her to prison,although she publicly denies all. Antigonus and other lords try in vain to change Leontes' mind.
He tells them he has sent a messenger to the oracles Delphos and Apollo to confirm or deny his suspicions. At the prison, Antigonus' wife Paulina comes to visit Hermione, but the jailer only lets her see Hermione's lady Emilia. Emilia tells her the stress has caused Hermione to go into labor and have a baby girl. Paulina convinces Hermione to let her bring the baby to Leontes in
hopes of calming him. In Leontes' chamber, he muses how he can only take out his revenge on the queen, but not on Polixenes who is too far away. We also learn Prince Mamillius has fallen sick over depression for losing ...

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the queen, and call Camillo home. Paulina then appears and tells Leontes his wife is dead too, blaming it all on him. He accepts all the blame and vows to forever daily visit and cry at the tomb of his wife and son. In Bohemia, Antigonus, and a mariner arrive with the king's daughter. In private, Antigonus tells us he saw the queen's ghost the previous night and it told him to name the baby Perdita (the lost girl) and leave it in Bohemia. He does so, leaving it as a storm was brewing; in fact, he is chased away by a bear. A shepherd appears and finds the baby and decides to take it in. The shepherd's son (a clown) then appears and tells his dad he saw a ship sink (Antigonus') and he saw ...

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