Titus Andronicus     The Winter's Tale

  The brothers Saturninus and Bassianus are in contention for the Roman emperorship. Titus Andronicus, Rome's most honoured general, returns from wars against the Goths with their Queen, Tamora, her sons and her black lover Aaron as captives. Her eldest son is sacrificed by Titus; she vows revenge. Titus is nominated Emperor by his brother Marcus, one of Rome's tribunes. This Titus declines, instead nominating Saturninus. To seal the bond of friendship, the new Emperor offers to marry Titus' daughter Lavinia. She however, is already pledged to Bassianus. Saturninus, by now infatuated by Tamora, makes her Empress.

Manipulated by Aaron, Tamora's sons Chiron and Demetrius avenge their mother by raping and mutilating Lavinia, and killing Bassianus. Aaron falsely implicates two of Titus' sons in this murder. In his turn Titus vows revenge and sends his surviving son Lucius to the Goths to raise an army.

Titus achieves his revenge by killing Tamora's sons and serving them up to her at a banquet, and then killing her. He himself is killed by Saturninus and his death avenged by Lucius who is made Emperor.

The Winter's Tale

  .......IT IS TIME for Polixenes, King of Bohemia, to end his visit with his boyhood friend Leontes, King of Sicily. When Leontes presses Polixenes to linger in Sicily ''one seven-night longer,'' Polixenes begs off, saying he really must leave. Hermione, the beautiful wife of Leontes, joins her husband in importuning Polixenes to remain awhile longer in Sicily. She delights in the stories Polixenes tells of her husband's boyhood. ''We were, fair queen,'' he told her one day, ''two lads that thought there was no more behind but such a day tomorrow as today, and to be boy eternal.'' Eager to hear more from Polixenes, she coaxes him to stay until he bows to her wishes. Leontes does not rejoice, however, for the suspicious eye with which he witnessed the conversation between his wife and his friend has envenomed him with jealousy. He thinks something is passing between them. He even wonders whether his son, Mamillius, is his own.

.......Suspicion builds upon suspicion as Leontes obsesses over his wife's ''infidelity.'' Finally, he orders his counselor, Camillo, to bear a poisoned cup to Polixenes. But Camillo, good and honest person that he is, warns the Bohemian king that his life is in danger. Polixenes steals away at night. Camillo goes with him. Their sudden departure convinces Leontes his suspicions are well founded. Angry and bitter, he publicly denounces his wife, who is soon to have another child, as an adulteress. Then he throws her in prison, thus depriving her of the company of her son, whom she delights in. Hermione pleads her innocence, to no avail. She is guilty; Leontes is certain of it. To confirm her guilt for others, he sends messengers to the oracle at Delphi to request a judgment. After Hermione gives birth to a daughter, her servant, Paulina, presents the infant to Leontes hoping the sight of the child will quench his anger.

.......HOWEVER, wrathful as ever, Leontes disowns the child and orders Paulina's husband, Antigonus, to abandon it in some far-off place. Leontes then subjects Hermione to a public trial. With utmost dignity and grace, she proclaims her innocence: ''My past life hath been as continent, as chaste, as true as I am now unhappy. . . . .'' During the trial, messengers arrive back from Delphi with a sealed verdict from the oracle. An official of the court breaks the seal and reads the verdict: ''Hermione is chaste; Polixenes is blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes a jealous tyrant; his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that which is lost be not found.'' Leontes rejects the verdict as false and orders the trial to continue. A servant then brings tragic tidings into the courtroom: the little prince, pining all this time for his jailed mother's love, has died. The news staggers Leontes, and Hermione collapses.

.......Suddenly realizing how wrong he has been, Leontes tells Hermione's attendants to treat her gently when they escort her from the courtroom. Later, Leontes receives another shock: Hermione, too, has died. Profoundly moved, the king laments his cruel, vengeful deeds and goes off to mourn. What of the newly born child, the infant princess? As instructed, Antigonus has abandoned her in a far-off place--the coast of Bohemia. But before Antigonus can return to the ship that carried him to Bohemia, a bear eats him. Then an angry sea wrecks the ship and swallows it and all aboard. Consequently, no one is left to report the fate of the child. A shepherd boy has seen everything and gives a report to his father, who discloses news of his own: He has found a baby girl along the coast. .

Sixteen Years Pass

.......IN BOHEMIA, Polixenes worries about his son, Florizel, who frequently visits the house of a shepherd who has a 16-year-old daughter named Perdita. Though commendable for her great beauty, Perdita is a mere peasant. As such, she is unworthy of his son's attentions, Polixenes believes. He and Camillo (Leontes' former servant who has become Polixenes' advisor) visit the shepherd's house in disguise to reconnoiter the activities of Florizel. When Polixenes discovers that Florizel has pledged to marry Perdita, Polixenes reveals his identity and threatens retaliation against anyone who abets the wedding plans. Camillo, who longs to visit his homeland, decides to help the lovers abscond to Sicily. A roguish peddler assists in the plan. When Florizel and Perdita board the ship, the shepherd and his son also go aboard to escape the wrath of Polixenes. They fear that Polixenes will punish them in loco Perdita. As the company sets sail, Camillo announces he will tell the king of their escape so that the king will follow. Camillo will go with him.

.......After Florizel and Perdita enter the court of Leontes, he welcomes them, unaware that Perdita is his long lost daughter. Polixenes and Camillo then arrive in hot pursuit of the lovers, and the reformed Leontes reconciles with them. The shepherds next take center stage to give testimony that identifies Perdita as Leontes' daughter. There is great rejoicing. Leontes' joy, though, is tinged with sadness, for he still grieves over the loss of Hermione. Paulina, the servant who 16 years before pleaded on Hermione's behalf, then takes Leontes to her house to show him a statue of Hermione in a chapel. But it is no statue; it is the real Hermione. She has been living in hiding these many years praying for the return of her daughter. When her daughter appears, the joy of the occasion is complete. And what of Mamillus, the little prince, who at one time remarked. ''A sad tale's best for winter''? Nothing can bring him back, but Leontes does have a new son in the person of Florizel.

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