LOVE The Winters Tale Romantic love Leontes and

LOVE The Winter’s Tale

Romantic love: Leontes and Hermione Florizel and Perdita Parental love Love for a friend Love of a servant for his/her master Love of country Love of nature Love of a child for their parent Love’s redemptive power

Love of a servant for his/her master Camillo only sees fault with himself when he does not understand Leontes’ jealousy: “if industriously / I play'd the fool, it was my negligence” It is against his nature to “Forsake the court” When Antigonus speaks up he makes clear “It is for you we speak, not for ourselves” Antigonus agrees to take the baby into exile “though a present death Had been more merciful” Paulina feels it is her duty to speak strongly “If I prove honey-mouth'd let my tongue blister” True love and genuine loyalty means making sacrifices and choosing what is right not what is beneficial or safe

Love of country Polixenes explains Leontes bad mood by saying it seems as if “he had lost some province and a region Loved” Camillo is desperate to “Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia And that unhappy king, my master” The return of children and servants restores order in the play Marriage completes this order

Love for a friend “We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun” – shared fun and innocence They both light-heartedly talk of the way their lives have changed since meeting their wives Indeed Leontes’ jealousy destroys the friendship It is predicted that “rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now” Leontes says “To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods” Notably in his last speech Leontes is keen to restore his friendship with his “brother”

Romantic Love - Leontes and Hermione “I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind What lady-she her lord” – Hermione about Leontes, being apart will not affect their relationship Jealousy is either a “disease” or “venom” For Leontes jealousy quickly turns love to hate: “My wife's a hobby-horse”. He belittles her Yet we can see that without trust love, life, the “world and all that's in't is nothing” Love relies on trust and loyalty

Romantic Love - Florizel and Perdita Florizel’s happiness means that he can “Apprehend nothing but jollity” He longs for the ability to capture his love in its first, special moments: “when you do dance, I wish you A wave o’th’sea, that you might ever do Nothing but that – move still, still so” Their love is youthful and fresh In Polixenes’ rage it is this youthful beauty he wants to destroy: “I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers” But it is strong and eternal: “for all the sun sees “

Love of nature The language of F & P’s speeches links their love to nature – it is shown in spring Perdita shows a love of Nature which befits her innocent and caring character However, there is a strength and practicality about her which is also attractive She speaks of the transformative power of Nature: “daffodils. . . Take the winds of March with beauty” Her debate with Polixenes suggests deep-seated traits of faithfulness and purity

Parental Love “If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one” (1. 1) Polixenes speaks for himself and Leontes when he says of his son: “He makes a July's day short as December” When he is first infected with jealousy he seeks refuge in his son and the fact they are “Almost as like as eggs” But he is tainted by “the dishonour of his mother” Mamillius’s guilt by association means that Leontes has lost all that makes life worthwhile

Love’s redemptive power Love is hugely powerful in the play It, as much as Apollo or the stars, seems to guide the fate of the characters It must be coupled with reason, trust and loyalty But if it is it can create regeneration, transformation and awe