# Leontes — The Winter’s Tale character guide

> Leontes in The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** King Leontes, Leontes Go, Leontes Ha, Leontes Satisfy, Leontes Good Paulina, Leontes Prithee, Leontes O Paulina, Leontes O sweet Paulina, Leontes Cease, Leontes Though, Leontes No

**First appearance:** 0000-the-winter-s-tale

## Snapshot

Sicilia's king, whose sudden, consuming jealousy turns loving husband and host into a tyrant who destroys the very family he cannot bear to doubt.

## Who they are

Leontes rules Sicilia as a man whose happiness seems settled: a beloved queen, a promising young son, and a boyhood friendship with Bohemia's king he still treasures. That security curdles in an instant into obsessive suspicion, and he pursues his imagined betrayal with a prosecutor's ferocity, ignoring every voice of reason. His refusal to be talked out of it drives the play's central catastrophe and sets the long penance that shapes everything after.

## Relationships

### [Hermione](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/hermione)

_family_

Hermione is Leontes' wife, but his unfounded jealousy destroys their marriage and leads to her apparent death.

### [Florizel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/florizel)

_family_

Florizel is Leontes' son, though they are estranged for much of the play before eventual reconciliation.

### [Polixenes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/polixenes)

_friendship_

Leontes and Polixenes are childhood friends, but Leontes' paranoid jealousy nearly destroys their bond.

### [Dion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/dion)

_professional_

Dion is a Sicilian lord who serves Leontes and participates in the mission to Delphi.

### [Antigonus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/antigonus)

_professional_

Antigonus is a lord loyal to Leontes, but he is forced to abandon the baby Perdita on Leontes' orders.

### [Camillo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/camillo)

_professional_

Camillo is Leontes' trusted counselor, but he flees rather than carry out Leontes' murder plot.

### [Third Gentleman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/third_gentleman)

_social_

The Third Gentleman is a minor courtier who delivers news to Leontes about the lost princess.

### [Shepherd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/shepherd)

_social_

Leontes meets the Shepherd only at the end, when the Shepherd reveals Perdita's true identity.

### [Hermione](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/hermione)

_family_

Hermione is Leontes' wife, but his unfounded jealousy destroys their marriage and leads to her apparent death.

### [Florizel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/florizel)

_family_

Florizel is Leontes' son, though they are estranged for much of the play before eventual reconciliation.

### [Third Gentleman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/third_gentleman)

_social_

The Third Gentleman is a minor courtier who delivers news to Leontes about the lost princess.

### [Florizel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/florizel)

_family_

Florizel is Leontes' son, though they are estranged for much of the play before eventual reconciliation.

## In the story

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-i-scene-ii)

Plagued by sudden jealousy, he misreads Hermione's friendliness and begins to doubt his son's legitimacy.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Consumed by jealousy, he publicly accuses Hermione of adultery and treason, orders her to prison, and sends to the Oracle for validation.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-iii)

Consumed by jealousy and paranoia, he orders the death of his newborn daughter and prepares to put Hermione on trial.

### [Scene II: The Trial of Hermione](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-ii)

Presides over the trial, rejects the oracle, and is devastated by the deaths of his son and wife.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i)

Still grieving Hermione and repentant; he refuses to remarry and agrees to help Florizel and Perdita.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-v-scene-ii)

Overwhelmed with joy at finding Perdita, he cries out for Hermione and seeks forgiveness from Polixenes.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/chapters/act-v-scene-iii)

Overwhelmed with remorse and wonder upon seeing Hermione's statue; he is the first to recognize her and is later reunited with her.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters/leontes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_winter_s_tale_se/characters