Aug 29, 2008

The Winter's Tale | Antigonus (Character Analysis)

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,...