The Winter's Tale (Act 4)

The Winter’s Tale – Act 4

            The first scene in Act IV brings in the character of Time, which proceeds to tell the audience that from the end of the last act up until now 16 years have passed. It seems that Time is used as a character here to transition between both years passed as well as setting for the next scene as in 4.2 we find ourselves in Bohemia with Polixenes and Camillo. As for 4.2, it seems like this scene is also meant to be a sort of transition scene as Polixenes and Camillo speak of the shepherd who took in baby Perdita and how she’s grown, as well as that Prince Florizel has been occupying much of his time at the shepherd’s place. This is most likely used as a connector between the years and setting change as well, and also re-introduces Perdita into the story line.

            In 4.3 we’re introduced to a character named Autolycus who is a thief and a liar. To me, Autolycus reminds me right away of Iago from Othello, as he pretends to be a helpless and good man but in truth is a pickpocket just looking for money. Iago and Autolycus seem to be similar in these respects as both are quite the prevaricators, and use the lies and deception only to benefit themselves. Although Iago is not a thief, he is the man who takes Othello’s rationality away from him, which to me brings Iago and Autolycus even further together on the same playing field. However, Iago’s deception was to gain power, not money, and Iago also seems to have a much darker side to him, whereas Autolycus seems to be light of heart in his ways of thieving. When it comes to thinking up a costume for Autolycus, I would certainly put him in the “rags” we see partially depicted in this scene. He would most likely be wearing almost only undergarments at this point as he has been “robbed” and his clothes taken from him, I would think to see them fashioned with holes in them as well as no shoes or stockings/socks. At the very least he might have on trousers, a very thin shirt that is torn, and possibly an unruly looking hat (if it hadn’t been “stolen”).

            The last scene in Act 4 has A LOT going on from start to finish. There are several characters we could focus on, however I will choose to focus on Camillo and Autolycus.

At the start of 4.4, we see Camillo still desiring to return home to Sicilia, but serving Polixenes nonetheless. As the scene goes farther along, Camillo finds out that Prince Florizel has been posing as a shepherd named Doricles as Florizel wishes to marry a maiden of low status (supposedly) named Perdita. Florizel says that he would rather give up his royal title than be without Perdita, and upon hearing this Camillo begins planning how he might set Prince Florizel and Perdita up to go to Sicilia, and then tell Polixenes so that Camillo may follow after them in order to go home. By the end of 4.4, we see Camillo slowly but surely finding his way back to Sicilia through this deception, although we don’t see any further of his plan. It can be assumed that Camillo’s desires have been put into action at the very least at this point thanks to both the young and foolish Prince Florizel as well as his lovely Perdita. One of Camillo’s last statements before he exits the scene gives proof to much of this: “What I do next shall be to tell the King / Of this escape, and whither they are bound; / Wherein my hope is I shall so prevail / To force him after, in whose company I shall re-view Sicilia, for whose sight / I have a woman’s longing.” (4.4.645-50)

As for Autolycus, in the beginning of 4.4 we see him up to his tricks again as he enters the festival disguised as a musician selling good tunes to people. We know from 4.3 that Autolycus is a thief and liar, and this continues on in scene four as well, as he cheats the poor Clown as well as others, out of their money through his phony disguise. It is obvious that Autolycus believes he will once again get away with his scams, and, unfortunately, by the end of 4.4 he does. Yet, not only does he use the disguise of the musician to help him thieve, but also at the end of 4.4 we see him lie to Camillo and Florizel in order to obtain a small amount of money as well as Florizel’s clothes. Autolycus then uses the latter to his advantage as he overhears the Old Shepherd – who took Perdita in – and the Clown (the Shepherd’s son) talk about needing to see King Polixenes. Being the terrible person Autolycus is, he immediately snatches up this opportunity to make more money and convinces the Old Shepherd and the Clown that he is a courtier to the King, and thus can give them audience with Polixenes for the right price. Once again, Autolycus swindles innocent people and in the end meets his desires to continue his thievery for his own selfish accords. We are also left with this bit of information from Autolycus at the end of 4.4 as he says, “If I had a mind to be honest, I see fortune would not suffer me. She drops booties in my mouth.” (4.4.801-02) It can be seen then that Autolycus clearly has no intent on stopping his deceitful ways as if he did, surely he would not be as fortunate as he is now. Hopefully, he’ll get a taste of his own medicine – or some kind of justice would be nice too.