Bits and pieces

  Long scene

Act IV Scene 4 has 843 lines and is the second longest scene in the whole of Shakespeare (V:2 of LLL is the longest at 914 lines)

  Length of play

WT is the ninth longest Shakespearean play (by number of lines)

  Number of lines

3,348

  Number of words

24,543

  Most famous stage direction

III:3 Exit pursued by a bear

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  Anachronisms

Like his other romances, Shakespeare has so many anachronisms in this play – perhaps to underline that it is a ‘tale’ – in a pre-Christian setting (the Delphic Oracle, Apollo etc) there are references to:

  the Emperor of Russia

  the betrayal of Christ

  Whitsun pastorals

  a puritan singing hornpipes

  a Christian burial custom and

  Giulio Romana (who was an actual Renaissance artist)

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  Inconsistencies and loose ends

Similarly (as in many of his other plays) there are inconsistencies and looses ends – but they are not important to an audience:

  Paulina in III:2 seems to know of Leontes’ plot to poison Polixenes – yet she was off-stage when he confessed it.

  the old shepherd refers to Antigonus as an old man – how did he know?

  Hermione in V:3 says she heard from Paulina that the oracle gave hope Perdita was alive – but she heard it herself in III:3

  Bohemia is a land-locked region – yet in WT it has a coast

  Titles

A list of titles based on quotes from the play

  Quiz

15 questions on the play – rated ‘Tough”

  Insults

From WT