Leontes' behaviour and themes of friendship and loyalty.
Shakespeare presents the effects of Leontes' behaviour on Camillo and Polixenes through the use of dialogue, humour, imagery and elliptical language. Leontes' behaviour intrigues many people who know the story of 'The Winter's Tale'. Behaviour such as that of Leontes can come from an experience of loss as a child. According to Henry James "the great source of terror in infancy is solitude". As a child Leontes and Polixenes were separated. Camillo speaks of this in 1.1 24. As children they had a very strong friendship. This is reiterated by Polixenes when Hermione questions him on it. (1.2 60). Behind Leontes' angry adult features are hidden a boy made desperate by the pain of loosing his friend at childhood. Long after the events of their separation the terror of solitude hits him. According to a book by John Bowleby there are three psychological characteristics of loss. 1) The anxiety of loosing, 2) the psychological defences when pain is too much and 3) the mourning which is experienced in the case of actual loss i.e. when Mamillius dies. During 1.2 419-460 Leontes is in stage two, his anger is strong and he doesn't understand where it's coming from. He takes it out on Hermione and Polixenes and also puts Camillo in a difficult
The rhetoric spoken in 448-450 shows Polixenes' emotion. He names three points but by using the rhetoric he is emphasising them and showing his emotion. He truly knows he is innocent and he is going to be free of these accusations. In line 444 Polixenes asks Camillo to be a "pilot" to him. Leontes' behaviour has resulted in Polixenes asking Camillo to betray his master to whom he has always been loyal. At 456 Polixenes says he will look to Camillo as a father. It creates a lovely image. Polixenes is of much higher status than Camillo but he is looking up to him like a son to a father asking for advice. Camillo is not loyal to his master in this passage. He is betraying him to help Polixenes; this is because he knows Polixenes is right. It also shows that Leontes and Polixenes must have had a very close friendship because Camillo knew Polixenes well enough to know he was telling the truth. He is being loyal to Polixenes. He says that There is a little humour in this section. Camillo says, The black verse shows the effects of Leontes' behaviour through the intensity of language because it is disjointed, mirroring the thoughts of Camillo and Polixenes who don't know what to think and are confused. They can't think fluently enough to speak in rhyme or rhetoric. Time, in the end, restores their friendship and the friends are once again reunited. One strong theme running through this passage is friendship and loyalty. The friendship that used to be so strong between Leontes and Polixenes is lessening. It is stated that Polixenes is infected with a disease. This now can be seen as a medical illness but in Shakespeare's time it could have been seen as an "absence of ease" (The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Histori
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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