“So soon as yours could win me” Polixenes is saying here that if anyone was going to succeed in persuading him to stay it would be Leontes but he really must go back to Bohemia. When Hermione manages to playfully bully Polixenes into staying longer, Leontes seems hurt; “At my request he would not.” Hermione and Polixenes do not pick up on this and unknowingly make the situation worse by walking off hand in hand. Hermione is undoubtedly innocent but the audience may also interpret her as naïve as she is so oblivious to her husbands’ jealousy and her ill-chosen words could possibly increase Leontes raging jealousy, for example Hermione calling Polixenes her “friend”. Also Polixenes use of the word “Temptations” and “crossed” which could be interpreted in Leontes irrational mind as Polixenes admitting he has been “tempted” by Hermione and that she has “crossed” (betrayed) Leontes.
There is a lot of playful conversation between Polixenes and Hermione which is ambiguous to Leontes’ maddened mind. Are they flirting or merely teasing?
The way in which Leontes converses in this scene tells us of his preoccupied, sombre mood, his first words to Hermione are quite accusatory; “Tongue-tied our queen?” This is slightly ironic as he is describing himself exactly, whereas Hermione has a light-hearted, witty manner. If Leontes were to compare his wife and best friend’s speech to each other and their matter-of -fact responses to him, it would be easy to read more into this if his suspicions were already raised:
“Polixenes I may not, verily.
Hermione Verily?
You put me off with limber vows”
Although the two kings call each other “brother” and proclaim their affection for each other Leontes is neither polite nor kind to Polixenes; their conversation is a battle of wills, a continuation of rivalry which could derive from their boyhood.
Leontes draws aside and reveals his absurd, unfounded suspicions about Polixenes and Hermione; “Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods…”
His volatile mood swings between mad jealousy and desperate reassurance as he questions whether Mamillius is his son. Leontes uses imagery of the horns which were said to grow on a cuckolds head. His speech is fast and frenzied, and Shakespeare uses lots of dashes to show his angry thoughts tumbling out. Repetition is also used to highlight the emotions Leontes is feeling, such as,
“But not for joy, not joy”, emphasises how unhappy he is.
After Hermione and Polixenes into the garden Leontes confides in Camillo who does not believe him and thinks he has an incurable disease, Leontes lists the evidence to prove his suspicions;
“Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh?-a note infallible
Of breaking honesty Horsing foot on foot?”
Leontes list goes on and he has clearly been watching and agonizing over his suspicions for a while and is now convinced they are having a full blown affair. The extent of his madness is shown when Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes.
I think the only evidence that Leontes was jealous before the start of the scene is how rapidly and suddenly he becomes this wild, jealous creature with so little warning and no solid evidence. However, different audiences will interpret Leontes envious rage in different ways according to the way it is construed by the actors. One adaptation could have Leontes plainly scrutinizing Hermione and Polixenes’ every move right from the beginning of the play, whereas another interpretation could have Leontes showing little reaction until he suddenly boils over in act 1 scene 2. I can find little evidence in the play that would convince a rational person that Polixenes and Hermione are having an affair; however in Leontes obviously irrational mind any of the points I have mentioned above could arouse his suspicions.
