Act 1 of "The Winter's tale",
"Leontes is no more than a case study in obsessive mania: he is not credible at all."
"Leontes' jealousy - despite its rapid onset- is entirely convincing in its power and the horror it creates in the audience."
Consider these opinions in relation to Act 1. How far does the text support each of these opinions?
In Act 1 of "The Winter's tale", it is evident that Leontes' madness and suspicions over an affair between Polixenes and Hermione are increasing at an extreme pace. However, this essay will seek to analyse whether or not the, perhaps, overly paranoid nature of this is realistic in the impact it has on the audience.
There are clear examples, that in the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 2, there is a very close bond between the two kings, Leontes and Polixenes. As they've been friends since childhood, this is to be expected and Leontes is keen for his friend to stay with him a while longer.
"Stay your thanks a while
And pay them when you part."
The fact that there are shared lines between the pair of them emphasises this closeness. They are extremely close and so this makes the events that occur later in the scene baffling to the audience, because of this early closeness.
Arguably however, closeness is not being shown at all in this early encounter, and it can be likened to the first scene of the play where Camillo is engaging with Archidamus. In that scene, everything had a double meaning and this scene mirrors it.
"You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely"
Therefore although the outer appearance is that Leontes wants Polixenes to stay, the inner truth may be different, which would see the sudden accusations of an affair becoming more realistic to comprehend.
So after this initial encounter, in which Polixenes protests he cannot stay any longer, he is adamant he is leaving, as shown in the final line.
"Farewell, our brother"
It's at this point that Leontes calls Hermione to help persuade Polixenes to stay, addressing her in a slightly aggressive manner:
"Tongue-tied, our queen? Speak you."
Is it possible, that even at this early stage, Leontes is already suspicious of an affair going on between his wife and his oldest friend? If so, it is clear that his suspicious are derived from nothing, as Hermione ...
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So after this initial encounter, in which Polixenes protests he cannot stay any longer, he is adamant he is leaving, as shown in the final line.
"Farewell, our brother"
It's at this point that Leontes calls Hermione to help persuade Polixenes to stay, addressing her in a slightly aggressive manner:
"Tongue-tied, our queen? Speak you."
Is it possible, that even at this early stage, Leontes is already suspicious of an affair going on between his wife and his oldest friend? If so, it is clear that his suspicious are derived from nothing, as Hermione has not yet spoken with Polixenes in the scene, which would definitely portray the madness of Leontes to the audience.
However, it is at this point that Hermione slowly sets about persuading Polixenes to stay with them a while longer. Leontes drifts off and watches from afar as she entices him to stay with them. The body language between them is supposedly quite close, but this is normal behaviour between two people who have just spent about 9 months in each others company.
Leontes therefore obviously interprets this as something more than it is.
"But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are"
He thinks they are clearly flirting and so therefore there has obviously been some sort of an affair between them. There is a plosive p sound repeated here, which is showing Leontes' disgust a the behaviour. This can be argued either way; he is not overly paranoid before, anybody would be jealous to see their wife close to another man but also, being close doesn't automatically mean they've had an affair.
Leontes sees the behaviour and cries out "Too hot, too hot!". This is very staccato, quite short and sharp and so Leontes is obviously shocked by the behaviour. However the conclusions he comes to are ridiculous.
""mingling bloods"
He is implying that Hermione's blood has been mingling with Polixenes' and so she is bearing his child. The audience will definitely see this as madness: it is unlikely that they have had an affair, but to come to this is overly paranoid.
Leontes proceeds to say "Th' mort o'th'deer". This however, has double meaning: firstly it can mean that he wants to kill Polixenes. The alternative meaning to mort though is orgasm, which is obviously more implication that Polixenes and Hermione have been having an affair.
The disturbance in Leontes' mind is shown by poor punctuation, and changes in vocabulary and speech rhythms.
Initially there was a small part of the audiences mind which may well have thought that Leontes was being very intuitive and spotting something that nobody else had seen. However as his speech breaks down like this, it's obvious that he is unable to thing properly, and the audience becomes increasingly aware of the paranoia which is driving him to conclusions which are incorrect.
For example twice in quick succession he questions whether or not Mamillius is actually his son, even though he is now seven years old.
"Art thou my boy?" line 120
"Art thou my calf?" line 126
His thought processes appear to be drifting all over the place, and there is the repeated image of the cuckold. It is almost as though he is speaking in stream of consciousness with lots of enjambment.
"Thou want'st a rough pash", "And hardening of my brows", "a fork'd one" this image keeps being repeated and each time with more certainty as Leontes is definitely sure that his wife and closest friend have had an affair.
In the speech between lines 185 and 205, despite the fact that Leontes is the king, he talks as though he is a commoner, using very crude imagery and language.
"That little thinks she had been sluic'd in's absence,
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour"
It could be argued, that yes, this creates power and horror in the audience just because of the way this is presented. However, it's not at all convincing really, and instead just increases the suspicion that he has gone crazy.
As if the audience wasn't convince enough by his madness already, Leontes then proceeds to engage with Camillo, a man who's been his faithful servant for many years, as well as Hermione's and so sees most of the action that occurs around the place. Therefore when Leontes accuses Camillo of lying, it is shocking.
"Business my Lord? I think most understand
Bohemia stays here longer."
By business, Leontes is referring to the affair that's going on in his mind. As you'd expect him to, Camillo simply thinks he means the fact that Polixenes is going to be staying with them a while longer. So, Leontes is asking questions to try and show what he thinks his true.
"L: Ay but why?
C: To satisfy your highness"
Obviously, because of the goings on in his mind, Leontes is outraged when he hears this: he thinks that Camillo is talking about satisfying Hermione sexually.
Leontes claims he is lying, a coward, negligent or a fool. Camillo admits he could potentially be any of them except a liar, showing that he's honest in his very well constructed argument. However Leontes proceeds to basically ignore this. The fact that he's unwilling to listen to reason is further demonstrating his madness to the audience.
He says:
"Ha'not you seen...you have or your eye-glass is thicker than a cuckold's horn"
Once again, using the image of a cuckold which is showing his obsession. Leontes proceeds to list lots of things that have happened which show that he is obviously not making something out of nothing, including "kissing with inside lip" - he has not actually seen this at all though, he is clearly mad to the audience. Debatably, it could be said that obviously if you're certain people have had an affair, you don't need to have seen it - you know what they have done, meaning that this could be realistic, and compared to any sane person who's partner has had an affair.
Leontes is so desperate for Camillo to endorse his theory, that he is incensed when Camillo refuses to accept it. "I say thou liest" he says. At this point, Leontes is obviously beyond reason. No longer satisfied with Camillo, he pushes aside the fact that he's unwilling to believe him and instructs Camillo to kill Polixenes.
"To give mine enemy a lasting wink"
Camillo, obviously disobeys this because it is clear Leontes is not in his right mind, and so the audience will tend to follow this opinion.
In conclusion therefore, there are elements of realism to Leontes' suspicions of Polixenes and Hermione initially, as the close contact between the two of them makes Leontes see things which aren't actually there. However, this rapidly spirals out of control into pure paranoia, meaning that the audience see Leontes for exactly what he is - a paranoid man who is clearly mad.
Patrick Stevenson HU
