Original: Take her hence:
Modern: Take her away from here.

Original: Her heart is but o’ercharged; she will recover:
Modern: Her heart is just overwhelmed; she will get better.

Original: I have too much believed mine own suspicion:
Modern: I believed my own suspicious thoughts too much.

Original: Beseech you, tenderly apply to her
Modern: I beg you, gently give her

Original: Some remedies for life.
Modern: Some medicine to restore her life.

Original: Apollo, pardon
Modern: Apollo, forgive me for

Original: My great profaneness ‘gainst thine oracle!
Modern: My terrible disrespect toward your prophecy!

Original: I’ll reconcile me to Polixenes,
Modern: I’ll make peace with Polixenes,

Original: New woo my queen, recall the good Camillo,
Modern: Win back my queen’s love, and bring back the honorable Camillo,

Original: Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy;
Modern: Who I now declare to be a man of honesty and compassion.

Original: For, being transported by my jealousies
Modern: Because, being carried away by my jealous feelings,

Original: To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Modern: To violent thoughts and revenge, I selected

Original: Camillo for the minister to poison
Modern: Camillo to be the one to poison

Original: My friend Polixenes: which had been done,
Modern: My friend Polixenes—and it would have been done,

Original: But that the good mind of Camillo tardied
Modern: Except that Camillo’s good conscience delayed

Original: My swift command, though I with death and with
Modern: My quick order, even though I threatened him with death and

Original: Reward did threaten and encourage him,
Modern: Promised him rewards to pressure and motivate him,

Original: Not doing ‘t and being done: he, most humane
Modern: For not doing it and for doing it. But he, most compassionate

Original: And fill’d with honour, to my kingly guest
Modern: And filled with integrity, told my royal guest

Original: Unclasp’d my practise, quit his fortunes here,
Modern: About my plot, gave up his prosperity here,

Original: Which you knew great, and to the hazard
Modern: Which you know was significant, and risked

Original: Of all encertainties himself commended,
Modern: All the dangers and uncertainties he threw himself into,

Original: No richer than his honour: how he glisters
Modern: With nothing more valuable than his honor. How he shines

Original: Thorough my rust! and how his pity
Modern: Through my corruption! And how his compassion

Original: Does my deeds make the blacker!
Modern: Makes my actions look even worse!

In Act III, Scene 2 of “The Winter’s Tale,” Leontes conducts a public trial of Hermione, who has given birth to a daughter while imprisoned. Hermione appears before the court to defend herself against Leontes’ accusations of adultery with Polixenes and conspiracy against the king’s life. She eloquently proclaims her innocence, stating that her integrity is worth more than her life, and challenges Leontes to prove his charges. She recounts her faithful service as his wife and her current suffering, maintaining her dignity throughout the proceedings.

The trial takes a dramatic turn when an officer reads the oracle from Apollo at Delphi, which declares Hermione chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, and warns that the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost is not found. Leontes immediately dismisses the oracle as false, but his defiance is quickly punished when a servant arrives with news that Prince Mamillius has died from grief over his mother’s trial. Upon hearing of her son’s death, Hermione collapses, and Paulina soon returns to announce that the queen has died. Leontes, finally recognizing his terrible error, vows to spend the remainder of his days in penitence for destroying his family.

The Winter’s Tale begins in Sicilia, where King Leontes hosts his childhood friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. When Leontes asks his pregnant wife Hermione to persuade Polixenes to extend his visit, her success in convincing him to stay triggers Leontes’ sudden and violent jealousy. He becomes convinced that Hermione and Polixenes are having an affair and that her unborn child is illegitimate. Despite protests from his courtiers, Leontes orders Polixenes’ death, but Camillo, the lord commanded to poison Polixenes, instead warns him and they both flee to Bohemia.

Leontes publicly accuses Hermione of adultery and imprisons her. She gives birth to a daughter in prison, and Leontes orders the baby to be abandoned in the wilderness. When Hermione is brought to trial, the Oracle of Delphi declares her innocent, but Leontes rejects this divine judgment. Immediately after, news arrives that their young son Mamillius has died from grief, and Hermione collapses and is reported dead. Stricken with remorse, Leontes vows to spend his life repenting. Meanwhile, the baby is abandoned on the coast of Bohemia, where a shepherd finds and raises her, naming her Perdita.

Sixteen years pass. Perdita, now a beautiful young shepherdess unaware of her royal birth, falls in love with Prince Florizel, son of King Polixenes. Polixenes, disguised with Camillo, discovers his son’s romance with a shepherd’s daughter and angrily forbids the match. The young lovers flee to Sicilia with Camillo’s help, accompanied by the shepherd and his son, who carry the tokens that were left with Perdita as a baby. In Sicilia, these tokens reveal Perdita’s true identity as Leontes’ lost daughter, leading to joyful reunions and Polixenes’ forgiveness when he arrives in pursuit of his son. The play concludes when Paulina, Hermione’s loyal friend, reveals that she has kept a statue of the dead queen. In a miraculous moment, the statue comes to life—Hermione has been hidden away for sixteen years, waiting for her daughter’s return. The royal family is reunited, Florizel and Perdita are betrothed with both fathers’ blessings, and Leontes encourages Paulina to marry Camillo.