Florizel
Character Description
Florizel is the son of Polixenes, King of Bohemia. As Florizel is the Prince of Bohemia, he is also very handsome and charming. His archetype is that of a lover. Florizel falls in love with Perdita and wants to marry her. Polixenes objects to the marriage because he believes Perdita is a shepherdess and therefore is not fit for a royal marriage with the Prince. Florizel is willing to give up his inheritance and his throne for the love of Perdita.
He chooses to take his love and flee to Sicily, where King Leontes accepts him and Perdita with open arms. The dilemma wth his father is resolved because Perdita is actually of royal blood (the daughter of King Leontes).
It was privilege to play a role like Florizel.
I had a great time going through this process of building the character and the exploration of different emotions. Florizel is very versatile and full of life. I felt that those elements are very much like how I live life, so a lot of myself is in Florizel. I enjoyed stepping into the role of a prince because there was exploration of power. Power is something that I have never really explored on all levels. However, being able to be a Prince, or heir to the throne of Bohemia, allowed me to exercise a lot of feelings of power.
Exploration also allowed me to breakdown my character's power. For example, early in my scenes with Perdita, I am wooing her and trying to win her love. However, she feels that Florizel is using too much power and it is frightening her. “You wooed me the false way” (TWT. Shakespeare, p. 70). There was a lot of emotional build up of passion that I explored. I enjoyed exploring this area because Florizel defines himself as an individual. Furthermore, he does so by denying his father and follows his love. As an actor, I learned to follow my love and fear nothing even if everything I own is threatened.
He chooses to take his love and flee to Sicily, where King Leontes accepts him and Perdita with open arms. The dilemma wth his father is resolved because Perdita is actually of royal blood (the daughter of King Leontes).
It was privilege to play a role like Florizel.
I had a great time going through this process of building the character and the exploration of different emotions. Florizel is very versatile and full of life. I felt that those elements are very much like how I live life, so a lot of myself is in Florizel. I enjoyed stepping into the role of a prince because there was exploration of power. Power is something that I have never really explored on all levels. However, being able to be a Prince, or heir to the throne of Bohemia, allowed me to exercise a lot of feelings of power.
Exploration also allowed me to breakdown my character's power. For example, early in my scenes with Perdita, I am wooing her and trying to win her love. However, she feels that Florizel is using too much power and it is frightening her. “You wooed me the false way” (TWT. Shakespeare, p. 70). There was a lot of emotional build up of passion that I explored. I enjoyed exploring this area because Florizel defines himself as an individual. Furthermore, he does so by denying his father and follows his love. As an actor, I learned to follow my love and fear nothing even if everything I own is threatened.