In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Hermione is the queen presented as a statue that comes to life. She is the queen of Sicilia and the wife of King Leontes.
Leontes falsely suspects Hermione of adultery with his friend Polixenes. The accusation destroys the royal family: Hermione is declared dead, their son Mamillius dies, and their infant daughter Perdita is abandoned. Sixteen years later, Perdita’s identity is restored and Leontes seeks forgiveness.
At Paulina’s house, the court is shown a statue of Hermione. In the play’s famous final scene, it moves and is revealed to be Hermione herself. Shakespeare leaves the mechanics deliberately mysterious. Paulina’s ritual-like language suggests resurrection, while clues in the text allow the possibility that Hermione survived and lived in seclusion. Paulina is the person who safeguards Hermione, not the queen represented by the statue.