The Winter’s Tale (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: William Shakespeare
- First Published: 1623
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragicomedy
- Time of Work: The legendary past
- Setting: Sicilia and Bohemia
- Genres: Drama, Tragicomedy
- Subjects: Prisons, Love or romance, Mistaken or secret identity, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Kings, queens, or royalty, Shipwrecks, Poisons or poisoning, Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovakians
- Locales: Bohemia, Sicilia
Characters Discussed
Leontes (lee-ON-teez), the king of Sicilia. For many years a close friend of King Polixenes of Bohemia, Leontes, curiously, becomes insanely jealous of him. Afraid of becoming a cuckold, he imprisons Hermione, wrests her son away from her, and attempts to murder Polixenes. When he learns that Hermione is pregnant, he rails; he calls his daughter a bastard and forces Antigonus to leave the child alone in a deserted area. Finally, coming to his senses, he realizes the awful truth. Through his jealousy, he loses his child, wife, and friends.
Polixenes...
[The entire page is 810 words long]
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