Hermione the Heroine

I feel like the best way to read Winter's Tale Act 3, Scene 2 is to look at it through a feminist perspective. It is, after all, a husband trying his own wife for infidelity.

In a world where the king's word is law, even suspicions become truths in the eyes of King Leontes' audience. In lines 85 through 90, Leontes essentially assumes that the child borne by Hermione is the bastard child of Polixenes. He tells Hermione:

"thou shalt feel our justice, in whose easiest passage look for no less than death." 

Yet, how can it be justice when the suspicious husband, the accuser, is also the judge. Shakespeare does everything he can in this scene to ensure the audience is aligned with Hermione. Leontes comes across as so prejudiced and cruel, Hermione becomes a heroic figure.

By feminist standards, I think Hermione makes a pretty brave stand for herself. She makes a list of all of her grievances against Leontes. How he took away her new child, separated her from her son, withdrew his own affections, denied her bedrest after going through childbirth, and forcing her to go through the trial. This is a pretty considerable list. Not to mention that the heir to the throne dies during the trial. In fact, Hermione's suffering seems almost Christlike, which comparison carries over into her rebirth at the end of the play.

Once Hermione lists all of Leontes' "sins," she brings in her best defense, the oracle, which she knows will tell the truth. The message from Apollo's oracle is read, Hermione's side is supported. And, in true manly fashion, Leontes dismisses it because it doesn't support his argument. This can be viewed as an example of how fruitless the defences are that women put up in society. In the end, the man is still in control, after everything. That may be a little cynical, but it is pretty obvious that Leontes' authority stems from his masculinity and Hermione's situation stems from her vulnerability as a woman.

Paulina is probably the original Shakespearean feminist character. She tells how it is, even to the king, which puts her outside of society's control.
This is what she tells the king after the queen has "died":

"...Thy tyranny
Together working with thy jealousies--
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine--oh, think what they have done,
And then run mad indeed, stark mad!..."

 She accuses the king of being tyrannical, jealous, weak, idle and mad. However, later on she realizes that she has spoken out of place and begs pardon, revealing that even Paulina is subject to the king's masculinity. But Leontes absolves her (as he didn't absolve his wife) and urges her to continue speaking bitterly, since he deserves it.

A feminist would say that King Leontes deserved every bit of what he got, and that Shakespeare was too kind to him at the end. But since I am not personally that extreme, I would have to say that this scene is an excellent example of the consequences of male follies and jealousies that are a natural result of women's subservience in this era. Clearly, Leontes' biggest threat to his power is a woman who appears to treat his authority as irrelevant.