Dramatis Personae
Dramatis Personae.
LEONTES, King of Sicilia.
MAMILLIUS, his son.
CAMILLO, Sicilian Lord.
ANTIGONUS, Sicilian Lord.
CLEOMENES, Sicilian Lord.
DION, Sicilian Lord.
Other Sicilian Lords.
Sicilian Gentlemen.
Officers of a Court of Judicature.
POLIXENES, King of Bohemia.
FLORIZEL, his son.
ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian Lord.
A Mariner.
Gaoler.
An Old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita.
CLOWN, his son.
Servant to the Old Shepherd.
AUTOLYCUS, a rogue.
TIME, as Chorus.
HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes.
PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.
PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.
EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen.
Other Ladies, attending on the Queen.
MOPSA, shepherdess.
DORCAS, shepherdess.
Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a Dance; Shepherds,
Shepherdesses, Guards, &c.
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— Kathryn A Sampson Stinson
The title of the play "The Winter's Tale" has much to offer, as it is an oblique reference to the oral history tradition of working class or indigenous people telling stories to pass a long winter's night. The phrase "winter's tale" appears in two places written by Christopher Marlowe, a playwright who lived in the same time frame as Shakespeare. Dido 3.3.51-59 ("Who would not undergo all kind of toil To be well stor'd with such a winter's tale?") and The Jew of Malta 2:24-30 ("Now I remember those old women's words, Who in my wealth would tell me winter's tales, ...")