Leontes
The King of Sicilia, and the childhood friend
of the Bohemian King Polixenes. He is gripped by jealous fantasies, which
convince him that Polixenes has been having an affair with his wife,
Hermione; his jealousy leads to the
destruction of his family.
The virtuous and beautiful Queen of Sicilia.
Falsely accused of infidelity by her husband, Leontes, she apparently dies of
grief just after being vindicated by the Oracle of Delphi, but is restored to
life at the play's close.
The daughter of Leontes and Hermione. Because
her father believes her to be illegitimate, she is abandoned as a baby on the
coast of Bohemia, and brought up by a Shepherd. Unaware of her royal lineage,
she falls in love with the Bohemian Prince Florizel.
The King of Bohemia, and
Leontes's boyhood friend. He is falsely accused of having an affair with
Leontes's wife, and barely escapes Sicilia with his life. Much later in life,
he sees his only son fall in love with a lowly Shepherd's daughter—who is, in
fact, a Sicilian princess.
Polixenes's only son and heir; he falls in
love with Perdita, unaware of her royal ancestry, and defies his father by
eloping with her.
An honest Sicilian nobleman,
he refuses to follow Leontes's order to poison Polixenes, deciding instead to
flee Sicily and enter the Bohemian King's service.
A noblewoman of Sicily, she
is fierce in her defense of Hermione's virtue, and unrelenting in her condemnation
of Leontes after Hermione's death. She is also the agent of the (apparently)
dead Queen's resurrection.
A roguish peddler, vagabond,
and pickpocket; he steals the Clown's purse and does a great deal of pilfering at the Shepherd's sheepshearing, but ends by
assisting in Perdita and Florizel's escape.
An old and honorable
sheep-tender, he finds Perdita as a baby and raises her as his own daughter.
Paulina's husband, and also a loyal defender
of Hermione. He is given the unfortunate task of abandoning the baby Perdita on
the Bohemian coast.
The Shepherd's buffoonish son, and Perdita's
adopted brother.
The young prince of Sicilia, Leontes and
Hermione's son. He dies, perhaps of grief, after his father wrongly imprisons
his mother.
A lord of Sicilia, sent to Delphi to ask the
Oracle about Hermione's guilt.
A Sicilian lord, he accompanies Cleomenes to
Delphi.
One of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting.
A lord of Bohemia.
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