Cymbeline

Shakespeare wrote his plays in the literary culture of the early modern London theatrical scene, which developed during Elizabeth I’s reign and continued to thrive under James I. He probably wrote around 38 plays, and Cymbeline is one of the latest: The first recorded production was in 1611. In this play, Shakespeare engages with conventions already well-established in early modern theatre generally and in his own works, in terms of both literary devices and thematic concerns.

Cymbeline explores a number of themes and tropes that are featured throughout Shakespeare’s earlier works. In particular, the trope of a heroine disguising herself as a man is featured in Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Shakespeare used this trope within the context of early modern theatre practices, in which the heroines would have been played by a young male actor: The audience saw a boy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a girl. This device is ripe for both comedy and dramatic misunderstandings driving the plot, but is also used thematically. It contributes to the exploration of themes such as identity, gender constraints, and female agency. Heroines such as Rosalind or Portia are able to assert hidden parts of themselves and express themselves through using masculine identities. 

Imogen’s use of the masculine disguise is in many ways an outlier. Her masculine dress is partly a plot device allowing her to end up in the right place for the resolution, but it also creates a sense of vulnerability rather than empowerment. Her obscured identity represents her disconnect from Cymbeline and his court, reflecting her lack of options once accused of adultery by her husband and her helplessness as a woman. Her absolute loyalty echoes that of Desdemona in Othello. Shakespeare highlights the narrative parallel to this earlier play through the similarity of the name Iachimo with Iago. Both villains trick a fundamentally honorable, though flawed, character into doubting their wife’s loyalty. In both cases, Shakespeare shows the destructive power of jealousy. 

Cymbeline’s ending is considered typical of late Shakespeare specifically. The plays dated either side of Cymbeline feature similar narratives, which engage with darker ideas than many of Shakespeare’s earlier comedies but ultimately have happy resolutions: Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. Thematically and narratively, Cymbeline shares common ground with these three plays. All four focus on a king or royal family with no male heir apparent, featuring a father-daughter relationship marked by physical and/or emotional rifts. They utilize magic or gods, shown onstage using the theatrical technology of the time. This device often helps them straddle their darker themes and their resolutions of forgiveness and reconciliation. 

These plays are sometimes considered “romances” by modern commentators, recognizing their atypical relationship to the first folio’s genres. Cymbeline was listed as “The Tragedie of Cymbeline” in the first folio, and is usually grouped as a tragedy. Though it features a happy ending like a comedy, the events are seriously distressing for the characters, and the threat of violence and sexual assault loom throughout the narrative. Its exploration of the fatal flaws of otherwise noble protagonists is also typical of tragedy: Posthumus and Cymbeline make choices that nearly end in disaster, but this trope is subverted by luck and by the honor of others, such as Pisanio and Cymbeline’s lost sons.