The Winter’s Tale · Character

Antigonus

Paulina's husband, a Sicilian lord caught between obeying his king and believing his wife's furious certainty.

supporting

First appearance: Scene I

As a supporting figure in The Winter’s Tale, Antigonus is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Vigorously defends Hermione's honor and warns Leontes against rash justice, even vowing to geld his own daughters if she is false.

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Antigonus is ordered to carry the infant Perdita to a foreign shore and abandon her, a task he performs with dread and a famous stage direction trailing behind him. His marriage to Paulina makes him the play's great domestic irony: a man who fears his wife's tongue yet cannot escape her moral clarity. The letters and tokens he leaves with the child become the evidence that later proves her royal birth.

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See Antigonus in Scene I

Character Web

10 connections

A slice of how Antigonus sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Professional
Other

Character groups

Sicilian court and Bohemian characters
Protagonist

+5 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This scene is the dramatic climax because it marks the emotional and psychological peak of Antigonus’s interna…

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Relationships

Leontes
professional · negative
Antigonus is a lord loyal to Leontes, but he is forced to abandon the baby Perdita on… How this plays out →

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

See Antigonus in Scene I

In the story

Antigonus appears across 4 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Scene I
Vigorously defends Hermione's honor and warns Leontes against rash justice, even vowing to geld his own daughters if she is false.
Scene III
Forced by Leontes to swear an oath to abandon the infant Perdita in a remote place, despite his reluctance.
Scene III
Antigonus carries out his oath to abandon Perdita, recounts Hermione's ghostly visitation, and is chased and killed by a bear.
Scene II
Reported to have been torn to pieces by a bear, his death coinciding with the discovery of Perdita.

Chapter companion notes

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See Antigonus in Scene I