The characters of Hermione, Perdita and Paulina in The Winter's TaleAlthough Hermione is one of the main characters, we see her very little in the play. She is horribly cheated on by her husband, but we never really see her feelings on the matter. In many other plays, Shakespeare uses digressions and soliloquies to give insight into the character's mind. Hermione must have complex and very troubling thoughts, but we never see them. Hermione is in Act I, Scene ii, where she plays the perfect royal hostess. In Act I, scene iii, she is accused of adultery with Polixenes by Leontes and taken to prison. She is not seen again until Act III, Scene ii, where she is tried for treason. Immediately after this scene, she dies, or appears to die, off-stage. The audience is given no indication that she is still alive until Act V, scene iii, where the statue becomes flesh. Hermione is portrayed as an innocent victim throughout the play. When her husband becomes jealous, she is perplexed by his behavior and wonders if affairs of state bother him. His lack of knowledge of his jealousy lends credence to his claim of innocence. She had evidently never been an unfaithful wife, so she had no reason to worry about her husband suspecting her. Polixenes flees in fear of death, but leaves Hermione behind. If he had known that he was guilty and faced punishment, he could have left with Polixenes. When she comes back to life as a statue, she says she preserved herself in the fortuitous event that Perdita was alive. The audience is never given any further explanation, so we cannot conclude that she saved herself illegally or falsely. The character of Perdita is a wonderful study in sociological theories of nature versus nurture. She leaves the royal court when she is only a few days old and is raised by an old shepherd and his son, the Clown. Even though the family found a large amount of money when they found the child, the education he received could not have been the same as the traditional royal one. However, Perdita seems gifted with regal ways from birth. She has been crowned Queen of the sheep-shearing festival when we first see her again, and has won the deep love of a prince..