Cymbeline

For playgoers nowadays the chances of seeing CYMBELINE on stage are slim. The enticements for someone to read this play are manifold. A history buff or Anglophile? Cymbeline was an English King whose reign roughly coincided with the reign of Caesar Augustus and the birth of Christ. The fact that her roots ran back to Ancient Rome, was verification of the greatness of England at this point in the Renaissance period. The crucial battle of Milford Haven in the play marks a place where a...
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For playgoers nowadays the chances of seeing CYMBELINE on stage are slim. The enticements for someone to read this play are manifold. A history buff or Anglophile? Cymbeline was an English King whose reign roughly coincided with the reign of Caesar Augustus and the birth of Christ. The fact that her roots ran back to Ancient Rome, was verification of the greatness of England at this point in the Renaissance period. The crucial battle of Milford Haven in the play marks a place where a later battle occurred. The invader on that occasion would be the Earl of Richmond, Henry VII - the initial Tudor monarch. The play is therefore a celebration of sorts, since the Tudor dynasty is still in full swing with James I who is on the throne as Shakespeare writes this play. Otherwise the play may have well been given the less marketable title, "Imogen." Indeed this princess is at the crossroads of the many plot paths. She is somewhat married to her true love, the commoner Posthumus. The evil Queen wants her son Cloten married to Imogen to secure his claim to kingly heights. Imogen is the focus of a wager between Posthumus and would-be ravager, Iachimo. Fleeing death threats from her husband, she goes underground, literally, in a cave inhabited by three men -- she has to disguise herself as a man ("Fidele") to get away with this. It so happens that two of the men are her long lost brothers, abducted as babes by the third man. Imogen as Fidele is later taken into the hire of Lucius, a Roman invader, when the four cave-dwellers are scattered. The Romans, remarkably, are defeated, owing largely to the heroism of the three cave-dwellers. The loyalty of Fidele catches the eye of the victor, Cymbeline who spares the life of this young lad, Fidele. What of Cloten? In an earlier scene, in pursuit of Imogene and dressed in Posthumus' clothes (as a cheap-thrill mockery), he stumbles upon the two brothers (the savages) and one, Guiderius, beheads him. Cloten must be properly buried (by these savages?)-- as must Fidele, who is dead like Juliet was dead -- from a sedative that induces a deathlike state. With pre-burial rites in progress, Imogen / Fidele awakes to find the headless body beside her. She, of course (since it's in Posthumus' clothes!), thinks it's her husband's corpse. Where did the potion/sedative come from, albeit circuitously? You guessed right -- the Queen! Wait, there's more! -- Fascinated by the notion of visits from "the beyond," are you? As part of his absolutely incredible tie-up of all loose ends in the final moments of the play, Shakespeare brings in ghosts of ancestors and even flies in Juppiter! Giving away the plot is never a spoiler with the Bard's creations. It's the telling, the language that must not be missed! -- even in its 'tampered' form by All Clear! Shakespeare.