This is not to say however that the roles of the women are not vital to the play. Each one of the women plays an important part that adds another layer to the texture of the play. Hermione is stable and warm hearted. She is the wife and mother whose virtue is only ever questioned by her husband: "I would not be a stander-by to hear my sovereign mistress clouded without my present vengeance taken," says Camillo (Act 1, Scene 2). The persuasive fluidity and tone of the language that she uses with Polixenes is very different from the language she uses with Leontes, which is detached, concise and reasoned. In Act 1, Scene 2 Polixenes answers her persuasion to stay in Sicilia with, "I may not, verily". Hermione answers with an eliding flirtation of repeating his words, "Verily, you shall not go - a lady's "verily"'s as potent as a lord's." It is quite clear that she is flirting with him. She finishes this passage with, "How say you? My prisoner or my guest? By your dread "verily", one of them you shall be." This deliberate emphasis on the last three syllables, "you shall be" has sexual connotations. In contrast to this ease of speech later in the same scene she becomes flustered and disjointed when speaking with Leontes. She realises her speed and her disjointed speech herself and even states, "but to the goal," to get her back to the point that she was originally making. The way that she takes Polixenes by the hand is also flirtatious but Hermione is not malicious or unfaithful. Instead, she becomes the long-suffering victim whom we both pity and admire.
Perdita is the flawless heroine. She is practical, passionate, noble and realistic. She has intelligence and the ability to reason effectively as we see in Act 4, Scene 4 when Perdita states, "The fairest flowers o'th' season are out carnations and streaked gillyvors, which some call nature's bastards; of that kind our rustic garden's barren, and I care not to get slips of them.". This gives her an air of sophistication and maturity beyond her years shown by the way that in contrast to her own feelings she warns Florizel how threatened his position in the court is and will be. Yet men dominate her all through her life although she does not know it. Her father has her sent away as a baby to be left to ruin on the coast. Her lover Florizel shows this "male domination" unknowingly in his speech about the gods and how she is associated with them. The underlying double entendres appear because the gods that he associates her with are all known for raping innocent women to impose their will. The impact of using characters from mythology such as Zeus and Jupiter shows us how ironic their relationship is. Though they are clearly in love he is still her apparent superior. In fact, Perdita's character is full of dramatic irony. Polixenes mentions that she is beautiful, "Shepherdess, a fair one you are." (Act 4, Scene 4) and states that she is too beautiful to be kept away from court. This is ironic because the audience knows that she is in fact the daughter of Sicilia, indeed a princess.
Pauline is persuasive. She practically has the strength of Lady Macbeth when it comes to persuasion. She uses persuasive techniques such as "the power of three" to persuade Leontes that Hermione is faithful, "Good queen, my lord, good queen, I say, good queen!" (Act 2, Scene 3). It is interesting that as time goes on Paulina's ideas and views are finally accepted as Leontes sees the truth and realises that Paulina talks true sense; also he trusts her so much that she becomes his very influential confidante and even mother-figure. All these women are vital to the movement of the play but just do not have the same intricacies of character as can be seen in the character of Leontes.
Leontes is the King of Sicilia. He is an autocratic king. He talks about Hermione as though she were merely one of his "subjects". At the time that this later Romance was written James I was on the throne. This King believed in the Divine Right and that there was no other way to run a country than autocracy. Some critics suggest that the character of Leontes is written with the king in mind. He has been friends with Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, since childhood and is obviously very close to him. In the opening of the play Leontes talks to him about how much he wants him to stay at the court. But it is not he, but Hermione, who is able to persuade Polixenes to stay in Sicilia. Leontes' jealousy, comprising only his own suspicion, is aimed entirely at Hermione. He accuses women in general of being guilty of "corrupting" men and making "cuckolds" out of them. "There have been or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now and many a man there is, even at this present." (Act 1, Scene 2) All his anger is aimed towards Hermione and thence womankind. He says that he feels better because he knows that he is not the only man that women have done this to: "Nay, there's comfort in't, whiles other men have gates, and those gates opened as mine, against their will. Should all despair that have revolted wives the tenth of mankind would hang themselves." (Act 1, Scene 2). Critics such as Broadbent suggest that from this continuous contempt of women we might infer that Leontes is in love with Polixenes and jealous of the attention that he is giving Hermione when strictly he should be the guest of Leontes. These homo-erotic undertones are extremely interesting to the audience and the reader as they show us a completely different side to his character and could partly explain the one of the many reasons why Leontes thinks that women are so dangerous. Furthermore, this jealousy of attention could simply be due to childishness and selfishness on the part of Leontes not getting the attention that he deserves from his life-long friend. After all, he does not give in to Leontes and instead pays more attention to Hermione, an "item" that Leontes feels is his to begin with.
Leontes rapidly brings an "evil force to the play" as Harding so clearly suggests. He brings with him the dark sexuality of the opening. When he turns aside he uses foul, descriptive language and patterns of imagery to express his disgust. He uses sexual double entendre such as "I my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled." (Act 1, Scene 2). By tying sex and danger together Shakespeare creates an intriguing imagery that makes the audience listen, grimly fascinated, to Leontes' speech. Other images are sexual such as, "That little me thinks that she has been sluiced in's absence, and his pond fished by his next neighbour." (Act 1, Scene 2). He uses these sexual and somewhat vile images to portray his own contempt towards the alleged relationship between his Queen and Polixenes. Then, after his recognition of the wrong he has done, he repents for sixteen years until he finds his wife and daughter. I feel that much of the depth of Leontes' character is created by the intricate language patterns and a complex use of imagery creating much intrigue and interest for the audience. It is as though Leontes is sexually frustrated but not towards his wife or even Polixenes but completely aimed inwards at his own insecurity.
There is a clear use of disease imagery used through the play such as,"Go rot!" (Leontes Act 1, Scene 2), "For his knowledge is not infected" and "ill ta'en suspicion". I feel that this set of images shows us the unrest and almost paranoia within the soul of Leontes, a huge theme throughout the play. Later in the play Paulina talks about his "healing" being medical. I feel that this shows the audience how clearly Leontes thinks Hermione is actually unfaithful to him. It is a medical problem. Critics have suggested that the disease that Leontes suffers from in the first section of the play is an actual condition called "Morbid Jealousy".
Leontes shows tortured diction unbecoming a King's traditional speech. He cannot be understood even by his own wife throughout his "madness", "He speaks in a language that I understand not." (Act 3, Scene 2). His speeches are unbalanced. The iambic pentameter is broken up to confuse the audience intentionally in contrast to dignified characters such as Camillo in Act 1, Scene 2. The alliteration of parts of his speech serve to emphasise his insanity, for example, "But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers" (Act 1, Scene 2). Specific vowel sounds are repeated as if to suggest that Leontes himself is controlled by the language instead of controlling it himself such as, "We must be neat, not neat but cleanly, captain and yet the steer." (Act 1, Scene 2). The language does not pass through his mind before it leaves his lips and instead entirely controls him.
Leontes feels as though he has to mark his territory with what is seemingly an innocent and almost romantic recollection, "I am yours forever" (Act 1, Scene 2) in reference to their wedding vow. Here I feel that Leontes is confused and in his mixed use of possession, disease and fishing imagery, "His pond fished by his next neighbour" and "she is slippery!" (Act 1, Scene 2) we see a strange stream of consciousness through his speech. He uses disjointed and detached speech that Bloom calls "Leontes' mad mutterings" when he speaks aside.
He is harsh and misuses religious imagery; "How blest am I?" (Act 2, Scene 1). Leontes knows that he would be better not knowing if the queen really was having an affair. He talks about the mind only being "infected" after one sees the spider in the bottom of one's glass, "I have drunk, and seen the spider" (Act 2, Scene 1). He is confused and almost possessed by a stronger force, the force of jealousy.
According to Pafford, "Leontes is not to be examined closely as a man; he is more important as a vehicle and it is better to concentrate on his strange jealousy". Although I feel that the most important them throughout the play is the unusual jealousy of Leontes and the mistakes that he makes I do feel that this comment somewhat undermines his status as a coherent, rounded character and instead would suggest that he is a mere representation, or personification, of mankind's jealousy. I feel that Leontes is more important than that. He is recognisably human. He is the king and still he makes so many terrible, even fatal mistakes. This leads me to believe that the play's true interest stems from a warning against human error and pointing towards redemption. The play is clearly structured into three different sections. The first is Leontes' decent into madness, the second his sorrow-filled redemption/pastoral scenes and the final the resolution. In this sense Leontes is a "vehicle" that shows us how time can change people's lives whether they be king or commoner.
Shakespeare clearly detaches the character from the rest of drama in general so that we are able to examine his tortured mind. He gives him the language to create a strong and yet wracked character who becomes remorseful and repentant. His character is riddled with irony. He says to Hermione, "Tis a pity that she's not honest" when clearly she is truthful and honest. It is intentional that we should see Leontes as the most important character in the play as he himself represents the passage of time and how it changes. He clearly represents human error. I therefore disagree with the given view of the play. The female characters are vital to the play. Each of them brings a separate aspect of womankind to the play. However, I feel that it is Leontes, the tortured, insecure King, who holds the true interest of the play.
Bibliography
"Shakespeare, The Invention of the Human" - Harold Bloom
"The Winter's Tale" - JP Pafford
