Enter Time, the Chorus. TIME
I, that please some, try all—both joy and terror
Of good and bad, that makes and unfolds error—
Now take upon me, in the name of Time,
To use my wings. Impute it not a crime
To me or my swift passage that I slide 5
O’er sixteen years, and leave the growth untried
Of that wide gap, since it is in my power
To o’erthrow law and in one self-born hour
To plant and o’erwhelm custom. Let me pass
The same I am ere ancient’st order was 10
Or what is now received. I witness to
The times that brought them in. So shall I do
To th’ freshest things now reigning, and make stale
The glistering of this present, as my tale
Now seems to it. Your patience this allowing, 15
I turn my glass and give my scene such growing
As you had slept between. Leontes leaving,
Th’ effects of his fond jealousies so grieving
That he shuts up himself, imagine me,
Gentle spectators, that I now may be 20
In fair Bohemia. And remember well
I mentioned a son o’ th’ King’s, which Florizell
I now name to you, and with speed so pace
To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Equal with wond’ring. What of her ensues 25
I list not prophesy; but let Time’s news
Be known when ’tis brought forth. A shepherd’s
daughter
And what to her adheres, which follows after,
Is th’ argument of Time. Of this allow, 30
If ever you have spent time worse ere now.
If never, yet that Time himself doth say
He wishes earnestly you never may. He exits. | A character with wings and an hourglass appears on the stage and identifies himself as “Time.” Time announces to the audience that sixteen years have passed (since the last scene) and asks us to keep an open mind about the play’s fast-forwarding of events. (FYI: some editions of the play say that fifteen years have passed so don’t get all worked up if your copy says “fifteen” and not “sixteen.”) Then Time gives the audience a little update on what’s gone down in Sicily and Bohemia. In Sicily, Leontes, who feels really, really bad about the way his jealousy destroyed his family, has shut himself up in isolation. In Bohemia (where Time is now hanging out), King Polixenes has a son named Florizel, who is all grown up. Also, Perdita (the abandoned baby) has been raised by the Old Shepherd and she’s grown up to be quite a looker. |