Examine the way in which jealousy affects the language attitude and state of mind of Leontes.
At the beginning of the play Leontes, the King of Sicilia appears to be happily married to Hermione. They seem to be living a very enjoyable life with their son, their kingdom and above all with one another, this is clear to see when Leontes expresses his love to her "I am yours for ever". The King of Bohemia, Polixenes, a very old friend of Leontes is staying in Sicilia with them. Leontes really wanted Polixenes to stay for longer so he tried to persuade him to stay but he refused, so the King of Sicilia thought he"d tell Hermione to convince Polixenes to stay and he did. .
From the moment that Polixenes agrees to stay, Leontes starts to show symptoms of jealousy. When Hermione "gives her hand to Polixenes" Leontes anger and jealousy appears and he says "Too hot! Too hot! To mingle friendship far is mingling blood" "My boosom likes not, nor my brows" Leontes suddenly turns from being a loving and caring husband to a paranoid, jealous and untrustworthy husband. This all occurs in a matter of minutes. He even believes that Mamillius, his son, doesn't even belong to him, he begins to question all his life and his relationship with his wife. His language turns from very polite and loving to crude and vulgar. He talks offensively about his wife "That little thinks she has been sluic"d in's absence , and his pond fish"d by his next neighbour. Nay, there's comfort in't whiles other men have gates, and those gates open"d, as mine against their will" Here he uses imagery that makes the language even ruder, he likens a woman to a pond.
Another thing that Leontes does is he calls jealousy a disease. As the play goes on he gets more and more obsessed about the "relationship" between Polixenes and Hermione.