The Winter’s Tale Jealousy Quotes Page 2

We weren’t kidding earlier when we said that Leontes is obsessed with the idea that Mammilius may not be his son. (He also thinks Hermione is carrying Polixenes’s love child, which is why he later has Perdita abandoned in the countryside.) Here, Leontes notes that a lot of women have commented that Mammilius and Leontes look alike but then he insists that most women are also liars. It seems that Leontes’s view of women may play a role in his (unfounded) jealousy. If Leontes believes that most women are dishonest (socially and sexually), then it’s not so surprising that he would think his wife is deceitful as well.

Leontes think he’s pretty crafty and suggests that he’s going to catch Hermione and Polixenes in a compromising position. Basically, Leontes refuses Hermione’s invitation to join her and Polixenes in the garden and then uses it as an excuse to build a case (in his mind) against his wife and friend, who are merely being friendly and playful toward each other.

Leontes’s jealousy leads him to conclude that “many a man” has been cheated on by his wife, which implies that most women are promiscuous. He also uses a pretty crude metaphor to describe infidelity when he suggests that a woman’s vagina is like a “gate” that can be penetrated by a military enemy (another man). When he insists there’s “no barricade [defense] for a belly,” he’s basically saying there’s no way for a man to guard his wife’s womb/sexuality. All of this has the effect of turning matters of love and sex into a kind of warfare, which speaks to jealousy’s destructive nature.