Original: I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror
Modern: I am Time, and I affect some people while testing everyone with both happiness and fear

Original: Of good and bad, that makes and unfolds error,
Modern: I touch both good and bad people, and I both create mistakes and reveal them,

Original: Now take upon me, in the name of Time,
Modern: Now I take on the role, speaking as Time itself,

Original: To use my wings. Impute it not a crime
Modern: To use my power to fly forward. Don’t consider it a crime

Original: To me or my swift passage, that I slide
Modern: Against me or my quick movement, that I leap

Original: O’er sixteen years and leave the growth untried
Modern: Over sixteen years and skip showing you what happened during that time

Original: Of that wide gap, since it is in my power
Modern: In that long period, since I have the ability

Original: To o’erthrow law and in one self-born hour
Modern: To overthrow any rule and in a single moment of my own making

Original: To plant and o’erwhelm custom. Let me pass
Modern: To establish new traditions and destroy old ones. Allow me to continue

Original: The same I am, ere ancient’st order was
Modern: Being the same as I’ve always been, even before the oldest systems existed

Original: Or what is now received: I witness to
Modern: Or what people accept as true today: I was there to see

Original: The times that brought them in; so shall I do
Modern: The eras that created those systems; and in the same way I will

Original: To the freshest things now reigning and make stale
Modern: Outlast the newest things that exist today and make them seem outdated

Original: The glistering of this present, as my tale
Modern: The sparkling newness of this current moment, just as my story

Original: Now seems to it. Your patience this allowing,
Modern: Now seems old to it. If you’ll be patient with me,

Original: I turn my glass and give my scene such growing
Modern: I’ll turn my hourglass and make my scene jump forward in time

Original: As you had slept between: Leontes leaving,
Modern: As if you had slept through it all: I’m leaving Leontes behind,

Original: The effects of his fond jealousies so grieving
Modern: With the consequences of his foolish jealousy causing him such sorrow

Original: That he shuts up himself, imagine me,
Modern: That he isolates himself completely, and now picture me,

Original: Gentle spectators, that I now may be
Modern: Kind audience members, as if I can now be

Original: In fair Bohemia, and remember well,
Modern: In beautiful Bohemia, and remember clearly,

Original: I mentioned a son o’ the king’s, which Florizel
Modern: I spoke of the king’s son, whose name is Florizel

Original: I now name to you; and with speed so pace
Modern: I now tell you; and I’ll move quickly

Original: To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Modern: To tell you about Perdita, who has now grown in beauty and charm

Original: Equal with wondering: what of her ensues
Modern: So much that it’s amazing: whatever happens to her next

Original: I list not prophecy; but let Time’s news
Modern: I don’t want to predict; instead let Time’s revelations

Original: Be known when ‘tis brought forth. A shepherd’s daughter,
Modern: Be discovered when they naturally unfold. A shepherd’s daughter,

Original: And what to her adheres, which follows after,
Modern: And everything connected to her, which comes next,

Original: Is the argument of Time. Of this allow,
Modern: Is the story that Time will tell. Accept this story,

Original: If ever you have spent time worse ere now;
Modern: If you’ve ever wasted time on something worse than this before;

Original: If never, yet that Time himself doth say
Modern: If you haven’t, then know that Time himself says

Original: He wishes earnestly you never may.
Modern: He sincerely hopes you never will waste your time.

In Act IV, Scene 1 of “The Winter’s Tale,” Time appears as a character and serves as a chorus to bridge the sixteen-year gap between the first three acts and the final two acts of the play. Time acknowledges its power to both destroy and create, explaining that it can make and unmake customs, and that it has the ability to slide over sixteen years as if they were merely hours. The personified Time directly addresses the audience, asking them to imagine that the events they are about to witness take place sixteen years after Perdita was abandoned as an infant.

Time reveals that Leontes has shut himself away in seclusion, spending his days in penitence for his past actions, while Florizel, Polixenes’s son, has grown into a young man. The chorus explains that Perdita, now known by her given name, has grown up in Bohemia under the care of a shepherd and has become a beautiful young woman. Time concludes by stating that the story will now shift to Bohemia, where Polixenes’s son has become enamored with this shepherd’s daughter, though neither knows her true royal identity. The scene serves as a narrative device to advance the timeline and set up the pastoral romance that will dominate the play’s second half.

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.