The Winter's Tale | Characters & Character Analysis

The Winter's Tale Characters

Antigonus:

Antigonus is a Sicilian lord married to Paulina. He opposes the brutal way Leontes treats Hermione and the baby girl to which Hermione has just given birth. He protests that Hermione has been faithful to Leontes and says, "If it prove/She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where/I lodge my wife" (II. i. 133-35), suggesting that if one as ideally gracious as Hermione has given in to lustful desires, all women are suspect, their sexual drive differing not at all from the notoriously lusty horses in the stables. When Paulina openly accuses the Sicilian king of being ignorant and obstinate, Leontes charges Antigonus to silence his wife. Antigonus, however, either cannot or does not immediately silence her, and Leontes says, ' Thou dotard, thou art woman tir'd; unroosted / By the Dame Partlet here" (II.iii.75-76). Leontes is suggesting that Antigonus is henpecked and unable to control his wife, eventually threatening Antigonus...
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