Egeon is in Ephesus and he is being led to his execution because any Syracusan caught in Ephesus must pay an indemnity of a thousand marks, a price Egeon is unable to meet, or face execution. He is in Syracuse and prospered. He had a wife and twin boys. When Egeon and his family were on a boat back to Ephesus their ship was broken apart by a storm. Egeon, his son, and slave tied themselves to one end of the mass and his wife, other son, and slave tied themselves to another end of the mass. The mass split and the two parties went on different boats. So now Egeon is in Ephesus searching for his lost wife and son. The Duke is overcome with grief that he allows Egeon a day of liberation in order to find someone to pay his ransom. I believe Egeon will find someone to pay his ransom and will also be reunited with his family since it is a comedy and comedies usually end up happy!
Leontes and Polixenes at first seem to be hitting it off great. Leontes wants Polixenes to stay longer but Polixenes says that his already been there for nine months. It is only when Leontes' wife Hermione convinces Polixenes to stay that he does. This drives Leontes crazy because he becomes convinced that Hermione and Polixenes are sleeping together. This is exactly like Othello and Desdemona. Without any proof Leontes is ready to kill Polixenes for sleeping with his wife. It was interesting to see how swiftly Leontes was to change his opinion of Polixenes. I was surprised that Camillo warned Polixenes about the King's intentions of poisoning him and then asked if he could come away with him.
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