Mitarai Digital Folio

Winter’s Tale, Act 3 Scene 1

27Lines 2Speakers

Winter's Tale, Act 3 Scene 1 runs 27 lines of dialogue, spoken by 2 speakers. That is shorter than the play’s average scene length of about 240 lines. This scene is part of Act 3 of Winter's Tale.


Full Dialogue
Cleomenes
The climate's delicate, the air most sweet,
Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing
The common praise it bears.
Dion
I shall report,
For most it caught me, the celestial habits,
Methinks I so should term them, and the reverence
Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!
How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly
It was i' the offering!
Cleomenes
But of all, the burst
And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense.
That I was nothing.
Dion
If the event o' the journey
Prove as successful to the queen,–O be't so!–
As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't.
Cleomenes
Great Apollo
Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,
I little like.
Dion
The violent carriage of it
Will clear or end the business: when the oracle,
Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,
Shall the contents discover, something rare
Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh horses!
And gracious be the issue!
27 lines rendered verbatim from the dialogue corpus.

Who’s On Stage

Speaking characters in this scene

Character Lines Share
Dion 16 59.3%
Cleomenes 11 40.7%

Line distribution

The top speaker in this scene delivers 16 lines, while the scene’s average per speaker is about 14 lines.

Total speakers on stage

2 named characters speak in this scene.

Scene in Context

Position within Act 3

This is Scene 1 of 3 in Act 3 of Winter's Tale.

Scene length vs. play average

At 27 lines, this scene is shorter than the Winter's Tale average scene in Winter's Tale (~240 lines).

Adjacent scenes

Previous: Act 2 Scene 3 · Next: Act 3 Scene 2