The Queer Witches of Shakespeare
If it takes an English major to persuade you of the relevancy and urgency of reading Shakespeare some 400 years after his death, let me try. Nearly all modern art is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ideas, both directly and indirectly. There are direct adaptations like West Side Story or Clueless, but the bard had a talent for covering the majority of major societal themes, and therefore his repertoire is ubiquitous and ever-present. He covers all things death and mortality, ambition and power, betrayal and jealousy, disguise and deception, madness and mental illness, fate and free will, family and loyalty, heterosexual love and romance… shall I go on? These themes, though, are relatively apparent and don’t require much digging to uncover. I am interested in looking into a topic often miscategorized as “modern.” Queer desire is everywhere in history, but we often have to look a bit closer to find it, and many of Shakespeare’s works explore this history. To write a concise article, I’d like to look into the events of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.
At its core, this play tells a brutal story about men’s hatred and disgust for women. Hermione, the Queen of Sicilia, seeks care from her close confidant Paulina when she is accused of infidelity by her own husband, King Leontes. Their relationship evolves to be more profound than mere companionship, and their plot to save Hermione is intrinsically queer. Paulina hides Hermione in a secluded house that she visits twice a day. This lifestyle resembles a typical lesbian relationship, particularly when homosexuality has to be hidden from the public. The institution of marriage, set and controlled by the King, essentially erased any potential women had to make independent decisions on their sexuality and body, including pregnancy. While Hermione was expected to provide heirs to the throne, her pregnancy is queer in its unexpected temporalities. The baby is born under extraordinary circumstances: too soon, in prison, while his brother is dying, and immediately sent to death. This is the most legitimate pregnancy, yet it was questioned and thus sent Hermione to seclusion for 16 years with a caring and loving woman. The pregnant body in this play is unknown, unregulated, criminalized, and concealed. Paulina’s understanding and confidence in caring for Hermione’s body illuminate her courage, authority, and morality. Furthermore, she presents what would appear to be supernatural abilities because of the prevailing witch trials, quintessential examples of the violent, misogynist influence Shakespeare was working under. Paulina’s character defies convention within the patriarchal society it is set, and she becomes the most crucial figure, rather the hero of The Winter’s Tale.
Audiences sympathize with Paulina, particularly with her hope for Leontes’ sympathy. Nevertheless, her kind heart is met with full authority. In Act 2, Scene 2, Paulina shares her opinions with Emilia. She says,
I dare be sworn.
These dangerous unsafe lunes i’ th’ King, beshrew them!
He must be told on’t, and he shall. The office
Becomes a woman’s best; I’ll take’t upon me.
If I prove honeymouthed, let my tongue blister
And never to my red-looked anger be
The trumped any more. (2.2.29–35)
This moment represents the misogyny rooted in their society. Paulina’s power through her outspoken candor threatens the existence of male-governed institutions. “Beshrew them,” or “curse them,” establishes the notion that she is a witch early on. Witches were, of course, sentenced to public humiliation and often death in Shakespeare’s 1600s– a simple statement such as this would be more than enough to convict her. Her declaration that women should occupy the government further places her life at stake. Women at these times were not allowed to vote, let alone hold a position of power. Arguably worse is her commitment to displaying her anger. A blistering tongue is vile and crude. To present that to a king is to sign a death waiver stating she is a witch.
In the same scene and breath, Paulina reveals her hope of sympathy buried within Leontes. She is aware of the love that is a consequence of childbearing. She is even more aware of her loyalty to the queen. She continues her speech to Emilia by saying,
Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen.
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I’ll show’t the King and undertake to be
Her advocate to th’ loud’st. We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o’ th’ child.
The silence often of pure innocence.
Persuades when speaking fails. (2.2.35–42)
The certainty of her ability to sway the King says a great deal about the respect and admiration she commands. Especially once Hermione is “dead,” everything Paulina says goes. If this is not queer enough, her words make the audience aware of her everlasting devotion to Hermione. Not once does she do such a thing for her husband, Antigonus; indeed, she is making his life worse. Leontes bullies Antigonus for his incapability to control his wife. To the King, he is weak and, therefore, unmanly. Antigonus cannot do the same as Leontes: uphold and exemplify the standards of heteronormative masculinity.
King Leontes is the catalyst of Paulina and Hermione’s queer relationship. Ultimately, the two women seek protection from Leontes’ violent rage. His frustration is rooted in the unpredictability of his real wife’s pregnant body. Leontes appears to repent for his past actions by the show’s end. But he does so under the condition that his wife returns as a statue, effectively eliminating the idea that women are sexually autonomous creatures. Hermione has, in Leontes’ mind, committed adultery. Her pregnant body is a constant reminder of that. Her freedom to make decisions on her body without the enforcement of her husband is a threat to his power, just as Paulina’s outspokenness is. But this story is not unique. In fact, “the Roman poet Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, Book X, relates that Pygmalion, a sculptor, makes an ivory statue representing his ideal of womanhood and then falls in love with his own creation, which he names Galatea; the goddess Venus brings the statue to life in answer to his prayer,” (Britannica). Creating a woman out of stone quite literally makes the woman an object. A statue has no opinion and agency over its body — in other words, the statue version of Hermione is Leontes’ ideal version of his wife.
Paulina never displays disgust for Hermione’s body and mind. She embraces the pregnant body and the ruined body resulting from childbirth and pregnancy. Her dedication to Hermione’s recovery and safety is fierce. As the play progresses, Paulina’s power over Leontes grows. She wins and recovers what he lost and uses this to manipulate and control what Leontes does. The 16 years that pass include Paulina embedding guilt deep into the King. Her insistence and confidence in Hermione’s worth over any man, even a king, is progressive and inherently queer. Even without the notion that Paulina and Hermione are romantic partners, their connection and appreciation of one another are notable. With all this in mind, making Paulina the dominating character, Shakespeare is commenting on his time’s immoral, oppressive authority.
Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Pygmalion”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Mar. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pygmalion. Accessed 4 July 2022.
Shakespeare, William. The Winter’s Tale. Edited by Frances E. Dolan, Penguin Books, 2017.
