A play in five acts produced in 1610-11 at the Globe Theatre in London and published in the First Folio of 1623, from a transcript, by Ralph Crane, of imperfect foul papers. One of Shakespeare's final plays, The Winter's Tale is a romantic comedy with elements of tragedy, based on the play Pandosto (1588) by Robert Greene

King Leontes of Sicilia begs his childhood friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia, to extend his visit to Sicilia. Polixenes protests that he has been away from his kingdom for nine months, but after Leontes's pregnant wife, Hermione, pleads with him he relents and agrees to stay a little longer. Leontes, meanwhile, has become possessed with jealousy--convinced that Polixenes and Hermione are lovers, he orders his loyal retainer, Camillo, to poison the Bohemian king. Instead, Camillo warns Polixenes of what is afoot, and the two men flee Sicilia immediately.

Furious at their escape, Leontes now publicly accuses his wife of infidelity, and declares that the child she is bearing to be illegitimate. He throws her in prison, despite the protests of his nobles, and sends for the Oracle of Delphi (who has proclaimed Hermione innocent). To ensure that which he believes will be confirmation of his suspicions. Meanwhile, the queen gives birth to a girl, and her loyal friend Paulina brings the baby to the king, in the hopes that the sight of the child will soften his heart. Unfortunately, it only angers him more, and promptly disowns the child. Ordering Paulina's husband, Lord Antigonus, to take the child and abandon it in some desolate place While Antigonus is gone, the answer comes from Delphi--Hermione and Polixenes are innocent, and Leontes will have no heir until his lost daughter is found. As this news is revealed, word comes that Leontes's son, Mamillius, has died of a wasting sickness brought on by the accusations against his mother. Hermione, meanwhile, falls in a swoon, and is carried away by Paulina, who subsequently reports the queen's death to her heartbroken and repentant husband.

These events are more than enough to make even Leontes realize what his jealousy has cost him; in mourning, he goes into seclusion.

Antigonus, meanwhile abandons the baby on the Bohemian coast, reporting that Hermione appeared to him in a dream and bade him name the girl Perdita and leave gold and other tokens on her person. Antigonus does so, but soon after a bear devours him. Later a kindly Shepard finds Perdita.

Sixteen years pass, and the son of Polixenes, Prince Florizel, falls in love with Perdita. His father and Camillo attend a sheep shearing in disguise and watch, as Florizel and Perdita are betrothed--then, tearing off the disguise, Polixenes intervenes and orders his son never to see the Shepherd's daughter again. With the aid of Camillo, however, who longs to see his native land again, Florizel and Perdita take ship for Sicilia, after using the clothes of a local rogue, Autolycus, as a disguise. They are joined in their voyage by the Shepherd and his son, a Clown, who are directed there by Autolycus.

In Sicilia, Leontes--still in mourning after all this time--greets the son of his old friend effusively. Florizel pretends to be on a diplomatic mission from his father, but his cover is blown when Polixenes and Camillo, too, arrive in Sicilia. What happens next is told to us by gentlemen of the Sicilian court: the Shepherd tells everyone his story of how Perdita was found, and Leontes realizes that she is his daughter, leading to general rejoicing. The entire company then goes to Paulina's house in the country, where a statue of Hermione has been recently finished. The sight of his wife's form makes Leontes distraught, but then, to everyone's amazement, the statue comes to life--it is Hermione, restored to life the queen has lived in hiding for the past sixteen years. Therefore, Leontes, his wife and daughter are reunited, his best friend, and his close advisor, Camillo. Even Paulina regains a husband when Leontes promises her hand to Camillo in gratitude for helping Hermione. Hence, everything is set back aright in Sicilia by the end of the play.

In The Winter's Tale Shakespeare's audacity had increased. He introduced a combination of heterogeneous civilizations similar to that found in The Tempest. But he also abandoned a unity of development in the story: he made a break of 16 years in the middle of the play, introducing the figure of Time to persuade the audience to accept the rapid shift of dramatic time. Shakespeare similarly challenged their confidence by the pathos of the deaths of the little boy Mamillius and, seemingly, of his mother, Hermione, followed by the repentance of her jealous husband, Leontes. He also allows Antigonus, a most attractive character, to be eaten by a bear. Shakespeare clearly intended the audience to become involved only at certain moments of the play, by intensifying particular episodes without allowing emotional commitment to the whole plot. Three times his characters use the phrase "like an old tale," as if they were themselves commenting on its incredibility. What might have been the most moving scene or series of scenes in this group of plays--the revelation of Perdita's true birth--is related only at second hand by a number of anonymous gentlemen. Presumably, Shakespeare did not wish to anticipate or reduce the theatrical effect of the final scene, in which the "statue" of Hermione comes to life. Or perhaps, having already shown a similar scene of recognition of father and long-lost daughter in Pericles, he did not wish to repeat himself.