In The Winter’s Tale, the character of Paulina interested me very much. I was hoping to talk a little about her in discussion, but we did not get to her so I was wondering how everyone else viewed her. What stood out to me the most was the immense power that Pualina seemed to have over Leontes. After reading the play, I was so intrigued with how she could be so powerful that I looked her up on different websites to see if there was a piece of information that I missed, such as family lineage that connected her to royalty or something. However, there was nothing to indicate that Paulina was more important to the king than other ladies and I am more confused than ever as to how she controlled Leontes’s personal life and whether or not he married another woman after Hermione died. I guess my question is why does everyone else think that Leontes followed her rules? If guilt for his actions is one reason, then I feel that Paulina’s role in his actions was relatively pointless because he could have felt guilty on his own accord.
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I think that Paulina serves as a reminder of the king's guilt, as she was a close friend of the queen and it is she who constantly reminds Leontes of her death. Leontes also was the reason her husband was sent on the ill-fated trip that killed him, so Leontes, on top of his guilt over Hermione, may feel added guilt for Antigonus’ death. Paulina, I think, serves as both Leontes conscience as well as a reminder of all the horrible things he has done. On top of that, he may feel he owes her for the death of her husband, and this makes him more likely to accept criticism from her than he would otherwise.
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