Not that I am any expert on love, but I have heard it said that jealousy can cause one to go insane. I think in the case of Leonte's abandoning his son to the forest, his rage is stemming from a deep-seeded jealousy of his wife being with another man, supposedly. If there was any instability in their relationship before Polixenes came, it would have been much easier for Leonte's to think he was seeing immorality and things happening behind his back because of pre-rooted suspicions of his wife. The play does not suggest any misbehavior before Polixene's arrived, and thus in my opinion, Shakespeare is making an statement on the effects of jealousy in our interpersonal relationships. Potentially damaging as jealousy can be to a relationship and even to just oneself, in this royal family, jealousy seems like it may be the end of their new born.
This is what is so great about Shakespeare- he taps into raw human emotions that are as relevant now as they were then. Maybe not to the point of killing a child, but still.
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