Leontes
Character Description
Leontes is the King of Sicilia and husband to Hermione whom he suspects of infidelity with his friend Polixenes. His mere suspicion rapidly grows into a morbid jealousy triggering erratic and paranoid behavior. Unlike other Shakespearean characters driven by jealousy (Othello, Posthumus), Leontes’ conviction is self-inflicted and not fueled by any external agent. In a short time, he manages to lose his best friend, his loyal Counselor, his gracious Queen, his newborn daughter and his beloved son, Mamillius. The death of his son is particularly significant: Mamillius symbolizes the childhood innocence his father lost. Leontes’ biggest fault is not his irrational behavior per se, but the fact that he has not learned to transition from childhood to the adult world. His innocence has been replaced with responsibilities he does not know how to handle, and with power he cannot control.
Leontes’ spider speech echoes this concept of lost innocence. Leontes claims that he hath drunk and seen the spider, but it is the awareness of it that causes his disease (…one can drink, depart and yet partake no venom for his knowledge is not infected…). By acknowledging that he has the “disease,” Leontes is declaring that he cannot control his actions anymore. It is not a coincidence that his speech precedes the public accusation of his wife, which leads to her trial and death.
Leontes also manages to push away all the key male figures in his life. In the end, he is only left with one female figure, Paulina, who takes him into a sixteen-year journey of mourning and catharsis. Leontes’ rebirth through Paulina culminates in the gift of re-embracing his lost daughter and his wife during his earthly life. The debated question of whether or not Hermione miraculously comes back to life does not matter to Leontes. During all these years, he has been prepared to have faith in true greatness without questioning the form in which this could manifest to him.
Leontes is traditionally portrayed as a jealous, misogynistic and self-possessed Sicilian tyrant. However, what may be his most apparent trait can also be the biggest trap for an actor. I think that the challenge in playing this role is to empathize with his deepest fear of loss, which ultimately dictates his behavior. The “easy” part of this process is that his character is so meticulously defined in his complexity that little room is left for generic choices and stereotypical characterizations.
Leontes’ spider speech echoes this concept of lost innocence. Leontes claims that he hath drunk and seen the spider, but it is the awareness of it that causes his disease (…one can drink, depart and yet partake no venom for his knowledge is not infected…). By acknowledging that he has the “disease,” Leontes is declaring that he cannot control his actions anymore. It is not a coincidence that his speech precedes the public accusation of his wife, which leads to her trial and death.
Leontes also manages to push away all the key male figures in his life. In the end, he is only left with one female figure, Paulina, who takes him into a sixteen-year journey of mourning and catharsis. Leontes’ rebirth through Paulina culminates in the gift of re-embracing his lost daughter and his wife during his earthly life. The debated question of whether or not Hermione miraculously comes back to life does not matter to Leontes. During all these years, he has been prepared to have faith in true greatness without questioning the form in which this could manifest to him.
Leontes is traditionally portrayed as a jealous, misogynistic and self-possessed Sicilian tyrant. However, what may be his most apparent trait can also be the biggest trap for an actor. I think that the challenge in playing this role is to empathize with his deepest fear of loss, which ultimately dictates his behavior. The “easy” part of this process is that his character is so meticulously defined in his complexity that little room is left for generic choices and stereotypical characterizations.