A To Z Challenge 2022 : Shakespeare - L Is For Leontes

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There seems to be something about jealous husbands in Shakespeare, not sure why, but this one ends more happily than Othello, even if it takes years. The difference is that Othello was talked into thinking his wife was unfaithful; Leontes just decides on the basis of no evidence but something going on in his crazy mind.

Leontes is the king of Sicily in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. He has a wife, Hermione, and a son, Mamilius. He also has a best friend, Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, who is visiting. 

For no real reason, Leontes, within the first few minutes of the play, goes crazy with jealousy. He asks Polixenes to extend his stay, but when he only agrees to stay on Hermione’s request, Leontes starts to get suspicious - hey, she talked Polixenes into it when Leontes couldn’t! There must be an affair happening. In fact. Hermione is heavily pregnant at the time, so whose kid is it?

Polixenes is warned and leaves in a hurry. Hermione has no chance to do the same, so goes on trial. 

Leontes just can’t see he is wrong. Well, not yet. He calls on the oracle of Delphi and gets a reply via messengers that he really wasn’t expecting.

Suddenly, he has lost his wife and son and his baby daughter, Perdita(meaning “Lost”). 

The newborn baby girl is taken to Bohemia and left on the seashore. This is the play from which we get the famous line “Exit pursued by a bear.” It also has landlocked Bohemia with a seashore. 

More of this in my W post. 

But just so you know, he does feel remorse and become a better person, and meanwhile he is punished by some of the people in his life. Hermione isn’t dead, but hides away with the help of her lady in waiting, Paulina, until Leontes is ready to be forgiven. And serve him right!

There have been some very well known actors in the role, including John Gielgud, Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Irons and Antony Sher. Laurence Harvey played the role in a 1967 film of the play, which I saw on late night TV back in the days when you had to stay up to watch a film on TV or miss out…

Tomorrow’s post will go into more detail about Much Ado About Nothing. See you then!