greater meaning to these words than just determining what season it was. Through the short phrase that Mamillius speaks at that time, Shakespeare reveals the mood of nearly the entire play as one of sadness. This mood of sadness and of sorrow can be seen through many of the main characters throughout most of the play.The play opens with a peaceful conversation between two long-time friends, King Leontes and King Polixenes. However, the story changes to one of jealousy and sorrow very early on. Leontes’ jealously drives him to such extremes that he removes from his presence almost all of the characters that are close to him. He scares his childhood friend Polixenes away by the threat of death. He loses his entire family in a very short period of time. His son and wife are lost to death and his newborn daughter to banishment. To add to his torment, Leontes loses his loyal servant Camillo who was a dear friend to him as well.Though the sadness is felt most harshly by King Leontes, it is not solely limited to him. Most of the main characters in the play encounter some sort of sorrow during the play.Paulina, lady to Queen Hermione, faces loss early on in the play. Her Queen, whom she feels very close to, dies soon after Leontes publicly accuses her of adultery with King Polixenes. The child who Hermione bore while in jail was also soon taken from her to be banished from the kingdom. Antigonus, her husband, is met with death while carrying out the orders of King Leontes. All of these events cause Paulina great sadness.Camillo, servant to King Leontes, is forced to flee all which he holds dear so that he may escape the King’s rage. Later in the play, the audience is shown that Camillo longs to return to his homeland Sicilia, which he left many years ago. It is this longing that causes him to help two young lovers on their quest to get married.King Polixenes is not left without sorrow in this play either. Though he is thr...
