Hermione (The Winter's Tale)
Hermione was a character in William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. A queen, she was the wife of Leontes and the mother (PROSE: The Winter's Tale) of Perdita. (PROSE: Exit, by Another Means)
She was believed dead until Act V Scene III, where Leontes and his daughter visited the chapel at Paulina's house in order to see a statue of her. During the scene, it was revealed that the statue was actually Hermione herself who was not dead at all.
In an alternative draft of the play, this revelation came from a strange physician who arrived on the scene and immediately accused Paulina of being "as bad as Julius Grayle" because she kept curtained statues hidden from view. He then called upon everyone else to keep looking at the statue, warning them that their lives depended on not turning away or even blinking. Leontes voiced his opinion that the man was vexed which caused him to lose confidence in his words. He soon realised that it wasn't 1904 and Hermione was "not even a real statue". The physician subsequently left the scene, apologising to everyone but especially to "Miss Statue" for "spoiling" what was meant to be "a big surprise, climactic reveal". (PROSE: The Winter's Tale)
