The Winter's Tale

Act I establishes the theme of Jealousy’s Destructive Consequences, introducing the questionable nature of Leontes’s jealousy early on and foreshadowing its consequences. Among William Shakespeare’s plays, this theme is perhaps the most significant in The Winter’s Tale, as it encompasses the play’s moral and the protagonist’s growth. Nothing in the first scene of the play suggests there is any reason for Leontes’s jealousy of Hermione and Polixenes’s relationship, with the audience only being clued into his jealousy through an aside. Moreover, it is unclear whether Leontes is jealous of Polixenes due to his supposed relationship with Hermione or Hermione for her supposed relationship with Polixenes. His first aside occurs after Polixenes agrees to stay in Sicilia at Hermione’s request, not that of Leontes, and he tells the audience, “To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods” (1.2.184) but makes reference only to the acts of the pair rather than of either of the individuals. In his following aside, Leontes expresses anger toward Hermione but still appears to be jealous of both her affection for Polixenes and her time spent with the man he calls “our brother” (1.2.258). The immediacy and fervor of Leontes’s jealousy foreshadow just how much it will drive the plot and his character arc, starting a domino effect that will lead to the loss of his family. His jealousy is founded only on a few smiles and glances between his wife and best friend, none of which appear in stage directions. Tension quickly builds with Leontes suggesting the murder of his best friend within the same scene, highlighting just how much his character is and will be driven by petty jealousy.

Leontes’s jealousy might be considered his hamartia or primary character flaw, yet it only leads to its most destructive consequences when paired with his stubborn conviction, his inability to be persuaded by others. When he asks Camillo, one of his most trusted advisors, if he thinks Hermione has been unfaithful, Camillo denies the possibility. However, Leontes assumes he is lying, saying “​​I have trusted thee, Camillo, / With all the nearest things to my heart […] I from thee departed / Thy penitent reform’d: but we have been / Deceived in thy integrity, deceived / In that which seems so” (1.2.334-40). His immediate lack of trust in a person he previously trusted foreshadows his behavior and isolation as the play progresses, eventually leading him to doubt even the Greek god Apollo—who oversees oracles and knowledge among other things. In several of Shakespeare’s plays, a devilish character like Iago in Othello or Don John in Much Ado About Nothing will goad the protagonist into believing those around him are false, yet no one tries to persuade Leontes of this but himself. This shows how self-important he is and what exactly will bring him to ruin.

With Leontes’s reason in question, Act I also highlights the difference between respecting authority and doing what is right. This idea is embodied by Camillo (and later, Paulina), who initially promises to obey his king but ultimately refuses to murder Polixenes as he knows it is wrong. Though Leontes takes Camillo’s loyalty for granted, Camillo questions what will happen to his queen should be obey his king, understanding that the couple’s imbalance of power will ultimately harm Hermione. He warns Polixenes of Leontes’s plan not out of disloyalty but because he knows it is the right thing to do, and only leaves Sicilia to protect himself. He and others will make similar decisions as the play progresses, their virtues framing morality as more important than authority.