The Importance of Faith in The Winter’s Tale Essay Example

Helen Keller once said, “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” In The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, lack of faith is the central destructive force in this romantic, comedy play. The King of Silica, Leontes, loses complete trust in his wife, Hermione, whom he believes had sexual relations with his lifelong best friend, the King of Bohemia, Polixenes. During Leontes’ downward spiral of jealousy, he imprisons Hermione and doubts the baby she gives birth to is truly his. Due to his faithlessness towards Polixenes, Hermione, and his daughter, Leontes, faces numerous consequences from the oracle’s statements and dwells in remorse. In “Drama Within Drama: Shakespeare’s Sense of His Art”, Robert Egan similarly argues that Leontes’s disbelief in the ones whom he trusts creates complete chaos. The importance of faith becomes a major theme in The Winter’s Tale as Leontes causes mass destruction just through his lack of faith.

As a close friend of Leontes, Polixenes leaves his kingdom of Bohemia for nine months to spend time with his lifelong friend and his royal subjects. Leontes and Polixenes’s friendship is beneficial to both of their kingdoms as they always have a strong ally in their back corner when necessary. Robert Egan describes Shakespeare’s world as one, “whose structure rests almost physically on a universal bond of love: that between Leontes and Polixenes, which in turn figures the love among the peoples of Sicilia and Bohemia” (Egan 61). Their bond is solely important, as it will greatly reflect the bond of the countries they rule as if they have a peaceful and civil relationship, and so will their countries. Although this relationship is vital to the greatness and success of Sicilia, Leontes quickly disposes of this important friendship when he becomes jealous and loses faith in Polixenes and Hermione’s close friendship. Leontes confides in his loyal Sicilian Lord, Camillo, asking him to poison Polixenes for his scandalous behavior. In response to Leontes’s outburst of jealousy, Camillo reminds him of the benefits of befriending Polixenes, “…sealing/ The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms/ Known and allied to yours.” (I.ii.406-408). Camillo’s imagery implies that making such strong of an accusation with the King of another country, will destroy the bond not only between them but also between the citizens of those countries. He also insinuates with his metaphor “injury of tongues” that Leontes’ faithlessness can truly injure other things around him, which foreshadows numerous events that happen soon after this scene.

Hermione, Leontes’s charming and loyal wife, is suddenly bombarded by his jealous sexual accusation. When first being accused of adultery, Hermione misunderstands and playfully responds to Leontes until later on, she realized he wasn’t acting. Upon her sentencing, numerous Lords express their concerns about Leontes not putting more faith in his wife, whom they all trust. A respected elder Lord for Leontes, Antigonus, articulates, “Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice/ Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:/ Yourself, your queen, your son.” (II.i.153-155). Antigonus morally justifies that Leontes should only truly send Hermione to jail for the right reasons instead of just bias or jealousy. Antigonus’s quote almost challenges Leontes to question if his faithlessness and jealousy of his wife is worth destroying his entire family including his soon-to-be-born child, Perdita. In regards to Leontes’s decision of sentencing Hermione and abandoning Perdita, Robert Egan explains, “these actions derive from a single fault in Leontes deeper than either sexual jealousy or paternal irresponsibility: that is, a total lapse of faith.” (Egan 64). Egan provides descriptive analysis that portrays the idea of how Leontes’ faithlessness in Hermione and Perdita can be seen as him rejecting the loving order of art and nature as he begins to banish himself into dark places alone. The reader sees quickly that without this order of art and nature from faith, the entirety of the characters in the play will fall into a spiral of chaos. 

During Hermione’s trial, the oracle is read to reveal the truth from a higher power, Apollo, other than the King of Sicilia, Leontes, who is a biased character. In the presence of the court and everyone involved in the trial, the oracle is read by an officer who proclaims, “Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blame/ less, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant,/ his innocent babe truly begotten; and the King shall/ live without an heir if that which is lost be not/ found.” (III.ii.142-146). The oracle symbolizes numerous truths that Leontes will have to come to terms with as he realizes his faithlessness of those he rejected. Leontes’ refusal to believe in the oracle only makes matters worse as he will force himself and his kingdom of Sicilia to live without an heir. The only way he can prevent this from happening is if he finds what is lost, but he will certainly not discover it in his faithlessness spiral. Adding onto this concept, Robert Egan communicates how Leontes, “irrevocably alienates the little world of man from the law and process of great nature” (Egan 66). 

The lack of faith Leontes expresses throughout the play of The Winter’s Tale greatly contributes to mass amounts of chaos brought to numerous characters. Leontes recognizes his nefarious actions and admits to his wrongdoings in many asides throughout the play, especially to Paulina. Paulina, being a close friend to Hermione, is confided in by Leontes towards the end of the play particularly when she reveals the statue of Hermione. Although Leontes isolates himself from art and nature, ironically the art illusion of Hermione’s statue is one of the main roles of restoring his world. Upon rebuilding the world of Leontes through this symbol, the reader realizes that everyone must have faith in those around them, by accepting themes of nature and art, to live happily and orderly.