Table of Contents
The Story of the Play
Long, long ago in a Britain still ripe with magic: Imogen, the king’s only child, is in love with Posthumus, a poor but worthy gentleman. Her evil stepmother wants her to marry Cloton, the Queen’s son from her first marriage. The two lovers are secretly married. Enraged, the king banishes Posthumus, who retreats to Rome. The Queen begins to plot Imogen’s death.
In Rome, Posthumus meets crafty Iachimo, who claims that there are no virtuous women. Posthumus, knowing Imogen, disagrees. The two men wager: if Iachimo can seduce Imogen, he will win Posthumus’s ring. Iachimo travels to England and sees Imogen’s purity. So, he devises a trick: he hides in a chest which he asked Imogen to store in her bedroom. That night, after Imogen is asleep, Iachimo steals out of the chest, takes careful notes of all he sees, and steals the bracelet Posthumus gave Imogen. With this evidence he convinces Posthumus of his wife’s infidelity.
Meanwhile in Britain, Cymbeline refuses to pay the tribute he owes to Rome, making Augustus Caesar his enemy and leading the nation to war. The Queen launches her plot to kill Imogen, enlisting Posthumus’s faithful servant, Pisanio. Despairing, Posthumus also orders Pisanio to kill Imogen. The good Pisanio refuses both of these orders. Pisano persuades Imogen to leave the court to escape the hatred of the queen and her amorous son Cloten. Disguised as “Fidele,” Imogen travels to Wales, where she meets Belarius, a banished noble. Belarius is raising two boys who are actually Cymbeline’s sons, stolen from their nursery twenty years before.
Cloten, disguised in Posthumus’s clothing, pursues Imogen. In a deadly encounter with Belarius and the boys, he is decapitated. Imogen accidently drinks poison, believing it to be medicine. The brothers are horrified to find beloved “Fidele” apparently dead. Tenderly, they lay her next to Cloten’s body. Imogen soon wakes, having only taken a sleeping potion. Seeing the headless body in her husband’s clothes, she’s convinced of Posthumus’s death. She meets Caius Lucius, the Roman captain, and she takes service with him as a page.
Cymbeline is preparing for war with Rome. Iachimo is fighting for the Romans. Posthumus, the brothers, and Belarius join the British forces. In battle Belarius and the boys rescue Cymbeline from the Romans and capture the Roman ambassador and his page. Posthumus, in despair over Imogen’s supposed death, disguises himself as a Roman prisoner of war to be put to death. In prison he is visited by the spirits of his parents, who give him strength for the road ahead.
The war won, the happy ending begins. The Queen confesses her treachery shortly before her timely death. “Fidele” forces Iachimo to confess his trickery to Posthumus. Imogen then reveals her identity to her surprised husband, who is released by the king. Belarius reveals the existence of the two princes to Cymbeline. Imogen rejoices to have found her brothers. The Britons make peace with Rome, ensuring that Britain will “be fortunate and flourish in peace and plenty.”
