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“There is no tongue that moves”
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curing or cursing, alleviating or aggravating. Hermione’s words
serve to resolve the temporary stalemate in the friendship
between the two kings and to resume the symbolic flow of
their friendship, though in fact they also put her in great
danger, for her curative tongue moves Polixenes to choose to
stay, and moves her husband to imprison her.
Indeed, the queen’s figurative healing is achieved through
her full knowledge of the cause of the current deadlock
between the two kings. At the beginning of the play, Hermione
immediately hears and “diagnoses” Leontes’s ill-spoken words
that have only the reverse effect when he invites Polixenes to
remain: “You, sir, / Charge him too coldly” (1.2.29-30). She
goes on to explain to Leontes how he should employ the
proper speech and actions. Apparently, Hermione is patient
and persuasive in her attempts to restore the health of her
royal husband’s friendship with Polixenes. She begins by
suggesting that Leontes later visit his friend’s country after
Polixenes stays with them longer. When Polixenes declines this
idea, she offers a more powerful dose by speaking stronger and
more straightforward words:
Herm
. You put me off with limber vows; but I,
Though you would seek t’unsphere the stars with oaths,
Should yet say, “Sir, no going.” Verily,
You shall not go. A lady’s “verily” is
As potent as a lord’s. Will you go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner, . . .
How say you?
My prisoner or my guest? By your dread “verily,”
One of them you shall be. (1.2.47-51)
In this short statement, the importance of “not going” is
repeated twice. Hermione is in control of the conversation
when she wittily objectifies the word “verily,” which on the
one hand asserts her own subjectivity (“A lady’s “verily” is / As
potent as a lord’s,” 1.2.50-51) and, on the other, makes