Leontes confides in Camillo, giving him the precise details of the basis for his suspicions of their relationship:
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip?
Leontes describes these things as though he has actually seen Polixenes and Hermione together but the audience know that in truth he has not, although he clearly believes it has happened. This reveals Leontes’ powerful imagination to the audience and we see how this may affect his relationships – he cannot see things rationally and it seems no-one can convince him that he may be overreacting.
Leontes has always viewed Hermione as a dutiful subject or possession and I believe his furious jealousy is a product of the type of love he has for her, rather than the result of an illness. By Act 5, when he has been grieving for Hermione, and his children, for sixteen years, Leontes has a clear perspective of her decency and kindness, describing her as “the sweetest companion”. It appears he now regrets everything he did and said:
I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them.
It is clear from this speech that he does love her, and always has, and the structure shows how much calmer he is – in his earlier speeches he used hideous images to express his feelings and would often repeat himself, showing how disturbed and agitated he was. Now, however, he tends to simply state the truth in a much more controlled manner, although he can still be passionate and impulsive, suggesting his approach to relationships has changed.
Hermione is, in many respects, the opposite of her husband – she is altruistic while he is self obsessed and selfish; Hermione has an optimistic, positive outlook while Leontes has a bitter view of the past and of love. Hermione is also a very caring, maternal figure which we see when she sits with Mamillius to hear a “tale of sprites and goblins” and also when she reassures her childish husband.
When Shakespeare presents the relationship between Hermione and Leontes from Hermione’s perspective, it is shown clearly that they were in love before the onset Leontes’ insane jealousy – as I have discussed, this is not obvious when the relationship is examined from his point of view. Hermione’s speeches in court show the audience how deeply she cares for Leontes as she tells us that without him and their children she has no reason to live.
At the beginning of Act One, Scene Two of “The Winter’s Tale” Leontes tells Hermione that the last time she spoke so well was when she agreed to marry him. Hermione fuels Leontes’ suspicions when she says:
The one forever earned a royal husband;
Th’other for some while a friend.
She appears to equate marriage and friendship which to Leontes seems to mean that she considers him and Polixenes equals. From this we can infer that she may consider friendship and marriage to be equally significant or that she sees Leontes as a friend rather than a lover. It is clear that Hermione has a strong sense of duty and it seems she is friends with Polixenes out of loyalty to Leontes – perhaps her feelings for Leontes are influenced by this as well.
It is also clear that she is used to reassuring Leontes – during her flirtatious conversation with Polixenes, which only takes place because Leontes asks her to help, Hermione is aware that her husband is listening as she says:
When at Bohemia
You take my lord; I'll give him my commission
To let him there a month behind the gest
Prefix'd for's parting:—yet, good deed, Leontes,
I love thee not a jar of the clock behind
What lady she her lord.
The fact she knows Leontes would be listening to their conversation tells us a lot about their relationship – Leontes has obviously never trusted Hermione, making it more obvious that his jealousy is not an illness.
When Leontes has Hermione imprisoned he claims “‘tis Polixenes has made thee swell thus”, but Hermione has no idea what Leontes is talking about, a sign that they used to be happy. She asks “What is this? Sport?” and thinks Leontes may be playing some sort of game with her, which is indicative that he used to be good-natured as she clearly does expect this treatment from him.
After hearing everything Leontes says about her, implying she is dishonest and calling her “an adulteress”, Hermione seems to realise he is not thinking clearly but she does not seem to realise the depth of his conviction that she has been unfaithful:
How will this grieve you,
When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that
You thus have published me!
Hermione’s concern for Leontes, despite his accusations and cruelty, shows the audience that she is selfless but we wonder if this is out of duty to her husband, an act of true altruism or a sign of real love.
In court, Hermione attempts to make it clear to Leontes how much she loves him as she remained true to him throughout their marriage and is desperately unhappy without him. She tells the jury:
My past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern.
Hermione’s quiet, tragic speeches are very different to Leontes’ angry outbursts – the language she uses is so simple but moving that it seems far more believable than Leontes violent imagery. Hermione and Leontes have very different views of their relationship, and, I believe, love in general. To Hermione it appears, in the beginning at least, that they are happy and their relationship is as strong as ever. Leontes, however, fears she has been plotting against him with his best friend and his life is in danger. The audience can see from the differences in their personalities and their approach to relationships and love why they have such contrasting ideas.
Shakespeare seems to have a similar view of friendship as the relationship between Polixenes and Leontes takes a similar course to Leontes and Hermione’s marriage.
The key friendship presented by Shakespeare in “The Winter’s Tale” is introduced to the audience by Camillo and Archidamus, courtiers of Leontes and Polixenes, as they describe their friendship:
They were trained together in their childhoods; and
There rooted betwixt them then such an affection,
Which cannot choose but branch now.
Branch could mean to grow and flourish or to divide and this double meaning makes the audience suspicious that things are about to change between Leontes and Polixenes. The line “The heavens continue their loves” is ironic as we soon know that not even the Gods are able to save the friendship between Leontes and Polixenes. The audience are shown that they are close as from the beginning as Leontes refers to Polixenes as his “best brother” and the audience is forced to wonder what it will take to destroy such a strong friendship.
Apart from occasional comments, we do not really see Leontes feelings towards Polixenes again until Act 5 when he has been grieving the loss of his family and best friend as a result of his insane jealousy for 16 years. When Florizel and Perdita arrive in Sicilia, Leontes apologises to him for the way he behaved towards his father:
You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman; against whose person,
So sacred as it is, I have done sin.
We see that Leontes is truly sorry for his actions he tells Florizel that he looks so like his father he should call him “brother” as he did Polixenes – a sign he has finally accepted his innocence. Leontes still expresses his feelings through the same passionate speeches but they are no longer full of hideous images – he is no longer paranoid and jealous, so his relationships would change.
Like Leontes, Polixenes refers to his childhood friend as “best brother” to demonstrate the closeness of their relationship which makes the sudden, dramatic change all the more surprising for the audience and characters.
During Act 1, Scene 2 when Leontes is trying to convince him to stay Polixenes promises that:
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,
So soon as yours could win me.
It seems Polixenes may be used to having to support Leontes – this reassuring comment makes the audience wonder if Leontes is often insecure and jealous.
In their playful and teasing conversation Polixenes talks to Hermione about his childhood in Bohemia:
Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day tomorrow as today,
And to be boy eternal.
We see they were innocent and happy in sunny Bohemia and were very close and Polixenes clearly thought they would be friends forever. Another sign which shows the audience Leontes is wrong is the fact that Polixenes is worried as soon as he notices Leontes unusual behaviour. He questions Camillo, fearing he has done something to upset his friend:
I met him
With customary compliment; when he,
Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling
A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and
So leaves me to consider what is breeding
That changeth thus his manners.
When Camillo refuses to tell him what has happened Polixenes is clearly upset, desperate to know what is wrong. The audience are shown there is absolutely no truth in Leontes’ claims and this is confirmed by Polixenes reaction when he finds out how Leontes thinks he has betrayed him. When he eventually discovers what Leontes has accused him of Polixenes is appalled:
O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Polixenes says that had he done what Leontes suspects he would deserve his name to be linked with “his that did betray the Best!” meaning Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus in the New Testament. This shows the audience how much Polixenes cares for Leontes, and how highly he regards him, despite his belief that he is capable of doing such an awful thing.
The stark contrast between Polixenes’ and Leontes’ views of their friendship demonstrates their different natures – Polixenes is a true friend, worried he has upset Leontes and desperate to make amends while Leontes is very quick to believe that his best friend could betray him in such a terrible way.
The different types of love, the romantic relationship and the close friendship, are presented similarly by Shakespeare – in both cases Leontes’ jealousy destroys the relationship while his wife and friend have no idea anything is wrong until it is too late. Another similarity is the type of love both Polixenes and Hermione seem to have for Leontes – they are both supportive and dutiful though quietly assertive.
The ending of the play forces the audience to question whether Leontes has actually learnt from his mistakes at all. He appears to have repented for his sins and accepts that he alone is responsible for the loss of his queen and children. Despite the problems it has caused Leontes does not seem to have lost his headstrong nature and the audience are not sure he understands love now. He obviously still feels guilty that he was responsible for the death of Antigonus but he does not realise that his pairing of Camillo and Paulina is circumstantial rather than a passionate love.
Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings.
Leontes seems to think he is repaying Paulina for looking after Hermione and returning her to him but he does not seem to take their feelings into account, which is reminiscent of the way he behaved at the start of the play although then he was only acting for himself and he is now trying to help others.
We are never shown the reconciliation between the friends and lovers but it appears that Polixenes and Hermione have forgiven Leontes – although when she wakes Hermione doesn’t speak to Leontes she embraces him and it appears she forgives him.
Shakespeare explores a variety of different types of love within the main forms of friendship and romance – the equal, brotherly love between Polixenes and Leontes and the self-absorbed, needy love of Leontes which is balanced by Hermione’s reassuring maternal love for him.
