#leontes

(angry and jealous version?)

Aeneas and Creusa, The Aeneid.

“Leontes is literally crazy now. And when a king is crazy, it’s dangerous. Everyone is deeply disturbed and confused. Everyone is holding him back and trying to prevent him from lashing out. He’s like a rabid animal. And that’s really interesting, because he calls his wife a thing, but he’s not acting like a rational person. But he thinks he’s very rational.

Even full of hatred, Leontes loves so hard. He clearly still loves his son and cares about him so much. In one of the scenes, he seems very distraught over his wife’s “betrayal,” and he is very emotional about it. When he basically starts crying, you realize how much he fully believes it.”

“This man said that he hasn’t been sleeping, like, at all. He’s having a mental breakdown and I kinda feel bad? Like, I’ve had my own ‘episodes’ that have caused me to act very irrationally and emotionally, so I understand the feelings. I also remember the personal aftermath of these episodes, and any guilt that may occur once you come back down to earth. But he’s also hurting innocent people, and it’s really disturbing to see, and you are also perfectly justified in feeling very angry at him for doing this to those who love him.

So that makes it all the more tragic to me. He’s truly in a state of mental unwellness, and when he recovers, he’ll see the damage he has caused, and the damage itself is incredibly tragic as well. Hermione loves and trusts him, and you can see the hurt and betrayal written on her face when he turns on her. Even though he is the more touchy-feely one, she does love as deeply as him. And she doesn’t even seem that mad, just hurt, and she probably sees how unwell he is. And when you realize that a loved one is in a state like that, it’s horrible, because you love them, and one of the main things you see is their suffering. But you yourself are suffering from the hurricane.”

I just love this production because, as I said in my notes, Leontes feels so passionately about everything. If he feels love, he feels it intensely. If he feels even a twinge of jealous, he becomes full of hate. He is full of extremes, so it almost makes sense that he’d react so intensely to something so small. But it also makes sense that everyone would be surprised by thing. Because again, he has only really shown them his loving side, and you would never expect something from someone who loves so intensely.

GRYFFINDOR:

"If this be magic, let it be an art Lawful as eating."