CYMBELINE

king of Britain in Shakespeare's late play Cymbeline. Though the title bears his name, Cymbeline plays a small role in this romance. Conventional in character, he is prone to ill-tempered decisions and is easily manipulated by the queen, his second wife. After the confusion and villainy that drive the play are resolved, Cymbeline proves to be generous. It may be noted that Cymbeline and his two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, who succeeded him, were, for Shakespeare's audience, historical monarchs. comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, one of his later plays, first performed in 160910 and published in the First Folio of 1623, from an authorial copy imperfectly prepared as a promptbook. Set in the pre-Christian Roman world, Cymbeline draws its main theme, that of a wager by a husband on his wife's fidelity, from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. In the play Cymbeline, the king of Britain, decides that his daughter, Imogen, must marry his stepson Cloten. When Cymbeline learns that Imogen is secretly married to Posthumus, he banishes Posthumus, who heads for Rome. There he meets Iachimo and makes a wager on Imogen's virtue. By trickery Iachimo obtains a token from Imogen that he uses to convince Posthumus of her infidelity. Posthumus sends a servant to kill Imogen, but the servant instead warns her of the plan. Disguising herself as a young boy (Fidele), she sets out for Rome and loses her way in Wales. There she encounters Lord Belarius and her two brothers, whom she had believed dead (Belarius had kidnapped Cymbeline's sons in retribution for his unjust banishment). Posthumus (who has left Rome), Imogen, and her brothers are caught up in the advance of the Roman army, which has come to collect the tribute that Cymbeline has refused to pay to Rome. The forces clash and Cymbeline's army is victorious, largely because of the valour of Posthumus, Cymbeline's sons, and Belarius. A lengthy series of revelations and explanations ensues. Posthumus and Imogen are reunited, and Cymbeline is reconciled to them and to Belarius as well. Shakespeare shows great dramatic skill in weaving together many different elements of plot, period, and place. The open-air scenes in Wales, Iachimo's concealment in a trunk in Imogen's bedchamber, the supposed deaths of Posthumus and of the disguised Imogen, the battle between the Britons and Romans, the vision of the eagle-borne Jupiterall these are in preparation for the amazing complications of the final scene of the play, where (it has been calculated) there are 24 distinct revelations in the space of 455 lines.