As Leontes begins to suspect that Hermione and Polixenes are having an affair in Act 1, Scene 2, he conjures vivid images of the two together. When he watches Hermione give Polixenes her hand to welcome him to the Sicilian court, his description of this sight features heavy alliteration: “But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers, / As now they are, and making practiced smiles / As in a looking glass, and then to sigh..."
This repetition of the "p" sound in "paddling," "palms," and "pinching" makes this instance of physical contact between Hermione and Polixenes seem more intimate than it really is; the audience, of course, can see that Hermione is merely giving him her hand in friendly welcome. The continuation of the alliteration in the word "practiced," combined with the sibilance in "practiced," "smiles," "glass," and "sigh," also suggests that Leontes thinks Hermione and Polixenes are part of a sinister scheme against him. The aggressiveness of this alliteration also conveys Leontes's escalating feelings of bitterness and resentment toward Hermione and Polixenes for purportedly betraying him. This use of alliteration thus reveals how quickly Leontes's distrust of Hermione and Polixenes springs into existence—and how irrational it is.
